Soul Slayer
by JohnSolaris
Summary: For as long as he remembers, James Hawking can see ghosts. When his childhood friend Rina Adams died, her ghost was nowhere to be found, causing James to stop believing in ghosts… Until five years later, when Rina returns, dressed like the Grim Reaper and possessing supernatural powers. (AU, same lore but no canon characters, features an English-speaking Soul Society.)
1. Chapter 0: Prologue

**Foreword**

Bleach is my favorite manga of all time. The one thing in Bleach that fascinated me the most was its setting, its lore, the types of supernatural beings and powers in the story. But in Bleach's setting, one thing has always perplexed me. Why is Soul Society and the Soul Reapers primarily Japanese? If they're the psychopomps responsible for bringing the souls of all of humanity to the afterlife, shouldn't their ethnicities and cultures be as varied as normal humans are? I may be wrong about this, but I don't remember there being an explanation in the manga itself. So one day, I asked myself what the setting of Bleach would be like if the Soul Reapers were mainly Caucasian (possibly with some ethnical minorities like in USA and Canada) and spoke English. These Soul Reapers could resemble the western depictions of the Grim Reaper, rather than the Japanese depictions of Shinigami. And I began to think of English counterparts to some of Bleach's Japanese terminology. I thought this could make a decently interesting alternate universe. Hence, the idea for this fanfic was born. Of course, since a radical change has been made to the culture of the setting, it would be very awkward to shoehorn in the canon characters. Not to mention, I don't think I know the canon characters well enough to portray their personalities accurately, and I don't know Japanese all that well. Hence, no canon characters will appear (or even exist) in this fic, and all characters will be original. Despite the cultural change, I will attempt to stick as close to other aspects of Bleach's lore as possible, especially the parts about supernatural beings and powers. However, if certain parts of the lore haven't been revealed or elaborated on by the author, I will fill in the blanks, in ways that are (hopefully) consistent with the rest of the lore. I apologize in advance if I get any of the canon lore wrong, since it's been a while since I've read some parts of the manga (I rely mainly on the Bleach wiki for information); please do correct me if you see any errors. The plot of this fic will be similar to the first arc of Bleach canon, but with different characters, and I plan to have it diverge completely from the second arc onwards.

I understand that some people may be turned off by the premise that this fic does not contain any canon characters. As I have already said in the paragraph above, I don't think I'll be able to do the canon characters justice. I hope that the fact that the story takes place in the setting of Bleach, even if it's without the presence of canon characters, is enough to convey a sense of familiarity to Bleach fans. However, if you're a canon purist who thinks fanfics must have the canon characters and that the setting must not be tampered with, then I'm afraid there's nothing for you here. The fic is also meant to be able to stand alone as a story on its own, and requires no knowledge of Bleach to read, though obviously I do not own any of the Bleach lore in the story.

I also have a disclaimer to make: **THIS FIC IS NOT INTENDED TO COME ACROSS AS RACIST IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. **You are entitled to your own opinions, and if you insist on finding this fic racist even though I say it's not meant to be, then there's little I can do about that. But I will say that this fic is not meant to imply in any way that an English-speaking culture is better than a Japanese-speaking one, or more fitting for Bleach; it's just _different_. Similarly, I do not meant to imply in any way that the original characters in this fic are better than the canon characters or more fitting for Bleach. If you still find the premise racist, please do not read on.

Lastly, I'm writing this fanfic mostly as a writing exercise, in preparation for an original novel that I've begun writing. As such, I may hold myself up to laxer standards with this fic than with original literature. I also have depression and am taking antidepressants, so my motivation may come and go; that would most likely be the reason if I end up not updating this fic for a long time.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Chapter 0: Prologue**

My name is James Hawking. For as long as I can remember, I've been able to see ghosts.

But unlike some others, I've always been a skeptic. After all that mocking and bullying from the other kids at the orphanage, and the third psychiatrist or so, I was just about ready to accept these "ghosts" as hallucinations, merely figments of my imagination that really shouldn't have been as overactive as they claimed it was. Then I was adopted by the Adamses, and met Rina. She could see ghosts too, just like me.

We could see the same ghosts, and everyone else could see her. That must mean this whole thing is real, right? Not just one big waking dream that a mentally challenged child has been living in for all his life?

If so, then where the hell was _her_ ghost when she…

I can still remember that day, no matter how much I want to forget. The day when we were happily bantering back and forth about some piece of obscure math trivia, before the lunatic with the knife jumped out at us. There was so much blood.

I stabbed the bastard right through the throat, with his own goddamned knife. But that wasn't enough to save her.

We were only fifteen.

I searched for days. Her deathbed, and her grave. Her favorite classroom, karaoke place, bookstore, sweets shop, garden. All the places she liked, all the place she'd been to. But there was not a trace of her. Not a trace of the girl I love more than anything else in the world.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

A ghost of a semi-elderly man floats past me, making a rather stereotypical "oooooOOOOOooooOOOOooooo" sort of ghostly sound. Maybe he's amusing himself because just about no one can see him? Regardless, I pay him no further attention and continue to walk home. What use do these hallucinations have if they can't even show me what I want to see?

Upon seeing the junction before me, I stop walking. I'll… I'll stop coming here starting from tomorrow. Yeah, that's what I'll…

...who the fuck am I kidding. If I haven't gotten over her in five years, I never will. Heh, I must be pretty pathetic, whining about something that happened years ago rather than moving on and doing something more productive with my time… But do I give a shit anymore?

Once again, I look around Rina's grave, desperately clinging onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, she'll show up this time. But nope, nothing but the darkness of near midnight. I let out a heavy sigh.

"We learned about observables today, Rina," I begin to say. "There was a whole bunch of linear algebra, but I think I'm finally understanding quantum mechanics a bit better now. And apparently, 'observing' a system really means hitting it with photons or something, and taking a measurement of how the system responds, so _that's_ why you can't 'observe' the system without changing it."

_Cool!_ Rina says, the usual glint of excitement in her eyes. _So people can't see ghosts because they can't interact with them? Well, if we find a way to…_

Or, at least, that's what I _think_ she would say. The gravestone just stares blankly back at me, motionless.

"You know, I bet that Gunther guy is getting this much more easily than me," I continue my rambling. "I swear, he skips lectures all the time but still gets better marks than me. Bastard."

The gravestone still doesn't say anything.

Of course. I may not be over this, but hell if I'm not _used_ to it. I've stopped crying after the first year or so, and I'm not about to start again now.

I'm about to keep grumbling about the insufferable German genius in my physics class when I feel the chill down my spine. I've never felt anything like this before, but it's… like… being watched by something feral, ruthless and savage. Something very, very hungry. Was this how our ancestors felt when faced with large predators?

Suddenly, I feel a blow to my back, like being hit by a ton of bricks. The ground falls away from me, and the whole world starts spinning. It takes me a second or two to realize that I've been hurled into the air by some monstrous force, at which point the ground is already rushing back up at me with deadly speed. Half of my brain quickly becomes very thankful for the karate lessons that gave me better reflexes and balance than the average person, as I twist my body barely in time to stop the fall from snapping my neck or crushing my skull.

The other half of my brain is just focused on the _pain_.

"AAAAAAARGH!" I scream. A hand snaps up to clutch my left shoulder, but withdraws immediately as touching it just makes the pain _worse_. And so does moving. Oh, God, it hurts. It hurts _so much_. And that feeling of cold dread is still there, the feeling of being watched by a hungry predator. Just what… what the hell is going on…?

When I struggle to my feet, I quickly start to wonder if I did hit my head a few seconds ago after all. Because the _thing_ in front of me is literally unlike anything I've ever seen before.

It's like a gorilla and a lizard had a baby that's a few times too large. Uh, for the gorilla, I guess. Over three meters tall and all muscle, hunched posture, thick black fur interspersed with patches of dark green scales. Its hands and feet have thick but vaguely human-like fingers, and its long, thick tail tapers to a point at the end. Strangely enough, its lizard-like head is covered in some kind of white exoskeleton, making its face look a lot like a mask.

But the most unsettling part of the creature is the gaping circular hole running all the way through the center of its chest.

The creature opens its bone-covered mouth and screams. The sound is deafening and almost physically pushes me back, but… Nobody in the surrounding buildings seem to notice. Is… Is that thing a ghost then…? But I've never seen any ghost like that before… My whole body is shaking. The only experience I've had that's even remotely close to this was that insane murderer, and back then the sight of Rina getting stabbed drove me into a mad rage, but this time I can do nothing but fall to my knees and shake in terror and pain and just hope for this nightmare to _end_…

The thing takes a step toward me. That feeling from earlier becomes stronger than ever, making me feel like it's hard to even _breathe_. It looks at me with its eyes, two glowing motes of ghostly green light, and a purplish forked tongue reaches out from its mouth to lick the teeth of its mask. A hand, looking strong enough to snap me like a twig, begins reaching toward me.

Am I… going to die here…?

Heh… Maybe if I die here, I'll be able to see Rina again…

Before I can close my eyes for the painful end, a sharp gleam of bluish green fills my vision. And the creature's outstretched hand falls off an armless stump without ever reaching me.

It all starts happening so fast then. A black shadowy blur, which would be practically indistinguishable against the midnight if not for the luminescent turquoise aura surrounding its body, blazes toward the creature. Another gleam of the same turquoise, followed by a slicing sound, and a dark blade has buried itself into the creature's brain, piercing right through its bony mask. The shadowy figure makes a pulling motion on its weapon, splitting the creature's head in half before it can even scream again. The whole creature then begins to dissolve into a bone-white substance, and fades into the air, until not a trace of it remains.

The figure turns toward me.

I blink. Now that it's no longer moving ludicrously fast, I can see its shape a bit more clearly. But it still makes me wonder if I've really hit my head too hard, or if the pain is getting to me. Tattered, black hooded robe covering it from head to toe… A large scythe in its hand… It looks just like a stereotypical depiction of the Grim Reaper.

If my shoulder didn't hurt so much, I would've let out a shaky, humorless laugh. I mean… Really? Is my death just _so_ certain tonight that the _Grim Reaper itself_ has personally come to get me?

But… For some reason… This supposed Grim Reaper just doesn't feel very intimidating to me. I mean, sure, the black robe and scythe are scary, but… The blue-green aura it emits feels calm, almost gentle, and… familiar, somehow. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say the color reminds me of-

With a fluid motion, the supposed Grim Reaper removes its hood. And nothing would have prepared me for what's next.

"_Rina?!_"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note**

This is a pretty short chapter, but it feels like a pretty good stopping point here. It's a prologue, after all. I expect the following chapters to be much longer.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Glossary**

This is a list of the Japanese terminology in Bleach that I've adapted to English. The list may be updated over time.

Soul Society (尸魂界/ソウル・ソサエティ): Soul Society

Shinigami (死神): Soul Reaper

Zanpakutou (斬魄刀): Soulslayer

Shikai (始解): Initial Release / Līberātiō Initiālis (L.I.)

Bankai (卍解): Final Release / Līberātiō Fīnālis (L.F.)

Gotei 13 (護廷十三隊): The Soulguard

Zanjutsu (斬術): Armsmanship

Hohou (歩法): Celerity

Shunpo (瞬歩): Celeritas

Kidou (鬼道): Demoncraft

Hakuda (白打): Martial Forms

Reishi (霊子): Spiriton

Reiryoku (霊力): Spirit Energy

Reiatsu (霊圧): Spirit Pressure

Gigai (義骸): Homunculus

Hirenkyaku (飛廉脚): Schnelligkeit

All non-Japanese terminology should be unchanged.


	2. Chapter 1: Reunion

**Chapter 1: Reunion**

In the past five years, I've gradually accepted the fact that the "ghosts" I could supposedly see are really just hallucinations. As for Rina… Who knows, maybe she felt sorry for me and pretended to see the same "ghosts" that I did? In any case, I entered university and enrolled in the physics honors program, hoping that in the future I'll be able to conclusively prove or disprove the possible existence of ghosts.

Or maybe that's just an immature child's way of coping with how his girlfriend didn't return to him as a ghost…

All that is meaningless now as I stare at Rina before me, scythe in her hand, wearing that hooded black robe, having just completely obliterated that large monster moments ago. Her face looks older now, more beautiful than ever, with less childishness but even more of that vibrant life that brightens up everything around her. Her fair skin, bright green eyes, silky black hair… They're just as I remember.

And her smile is just as warm as I remember, too.

"It's been a long time, James..."

That soft, gentle, angelic voice… I never thought I'd hear that voice again…

"Ha..." I do manage to choke out a laugh this time. "Ha ha… Ha ha ha ha…! Finally… Looks like I'm finally desperate enough to see the hallucinations I wanted to see, huh…?! Heh..." Actually, maybe the laughter sounds more like sobs. I don't even know anymore.

Rina's smile falters, and turns into an expression of hurt. Even now, seeing her like that still breaks my heart. "You think… that I'm not real?"

I don't know what to say. What _can_ I say? I thought that I was going to die, that I was finally going to see Rina again… And I got what I wanted! Isn't that just great?! Heh heh…

Rina suddenly grins. "Hehe, so you haven't changed," she says, a determined glint now in those eyes. It's the same look she always had before she cheered me up, every time I felt down. "Well then, Mr. Skeptic, I'm going to show you how real I am right now!"

With a grand swoosh of her hand, the large scythe seems to fold up and turn into dark shadows like the rest of Rina's robe, and is then promptly sucked into one of her wide sleeves. After a glance at my dislocated shoulder, she quickly closes the distance between us with several nimble steps and, with practiced ease, puts one hand on my elbow and the other on my forearm.

"Wai-"

She doesn't wait.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Oh God, that sure is more pain than I remember being in for a long while. Except the pain immediately dies down almost completely, replaced by a pleasantly cool, soothing feeling that permeates my shoulder and upper arm. When I open my eyes, I see my arm enveloped in a pale green light coming out of Rina's hands. As the light fades away after a moment, my shoulder feels perfectly fine again, as though it was never injured in the first place.

"There!" Rina puts her hands on her hips and gives me a triumphant grin. "Could a hallucination do _that_?"

"Uh..." I stammer. "I dunno, I heard the placebo effect is pretty powerful..."

Rina gives me a little pout. Damn, she looks just as cute as before when she does that... "Either you have a super regeneration I don't know about, or I'm real and just healed your shoulder. Which one are you willing to bet on?"

"Well, the latter isn't exactly more believable either..." My mouth seems to be running on its own at the moment. "And you know I don't do bets-"

She looks at me expectantly.

"...this could still be a dream."

She takes hold of my hand with her own. Her skin feels very warm, very soft. She leans in and looks up at me, close enough that I can smell her faint fragrance and feel her breathing. Her eyes are bright and clear.

"Have you ever had a dream… this vivid?"

My mouth has finally stopped working. And so has my brain, it seems. I barely realize what's going on as she wraps her arms around me.

"I've missed you so much, James..."

At some point, tears have started to fall. Mine, and hers too. We stay like this for a long time.

"I've missed you too, Rina..."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Ugh, sorry about the room," I say, feeling myself turn red as I lead Rina into my room. "I, uh, wasn't expecting visitors."

"Ehehe, some things just don't change," Rina giggles.

Like her enjoyment of teasing me, no doubt. "S-Shut up." At least she (still!) doesn't seem to mind my room being such an awful mess. And at least I don't have any porn lying around in the room, God forbid.

As I sit down on my bed, Rina plops down comfortably beside me without hesitation. That... hasn't changed either, I see. I'm glad.

"So... The most obvious things first." I scratch my head and cough, feeling more than a little awkward. "Rina. Are you a..."

"Ghost?"

"Uh. Yeah."

"Yup! And you can still see me!" She grins.

"And I can also... touch you...?" I remember the softness of the skin on her hands, the warmth of her breath. Just to make sure, I put a hand on the black fabric of her robe, feeling the texture beneath my fingers. "How come?"

"Because I'm not your average ghost!" She gives me a cheerful wink.

I feel my heart skip a beat when she does that. T-Too cute... "N-No, seriously."

"I _am_ serious!" She says with a straight face. "I'm a Soul Reaper, and Soul Reapers aren't your average ghosts!"

"Soul… Reaper, huh." I look at her hooded black robe. "Is that why the, uh..."

"The bathrobe?"

The image of the Grim Reaper wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe rather than its usual ominous black robe pops into my mind. I can't help but to burst out laughing. She bursts out laughing too, and we stay like that for a short while.

"Yeah, we all have to wear black bathrobes of darkness and doom," she says, after we've stopped laughing. "It's kind of the police uniform in Soul Society."

"Soul Society?" I blink. "Is that, like, the underworld or something?"

"Well, I don't think it's underground or anything," she says, thinking for a bit. "And 'underworld' makes it sound way more gloomy than it actually is. Just 'afterlife' would be more accurate, I guess."

"...so there is life after death after all."

We look at each other.

"That would make a lot of people very relieved."

"Yeah, it does," she smiles.

"So… Soul Reapers. Are they like the police officers of the afterlife or something?"

"Pretty much," Rina says. "We also guide ghosts to the afterlife. Oh, and purify Hollows."

"Hollow"? Is that the giant monster from earlier? The memory sends a shiver down my spine, and I can still almost feel the incredible pain the thing inflicted on me. But I resist the urge to ask about it for now. One question at a time.

"And… Why are _you_ one of these Soul Reapers?" I look at her. It sounds cheesy as hell, but… Rina is almost the epitome of warm, radiant life. I mean, just look at her sparkling green eyes and cheery smile… I just can't imagine her as, of all things, a messenger of _death_.

"Oh, that?" Her grin is now a little smug. "I'm apparently some kind of genius that only comes once every however many years!" She opens her hand, and a wisp of bluish green energy appears floating over her palm; I find my gaze drawn to the beautiful light. "I was drafted into their academy only a few days after I arrived at Soul Society, and apparently graduated in record time!"

And thus, the topic of her death is finally breached.

...I hate elephants in the room.

And awkward silences too.

"...I'm sorry," she whispers. "I wanted to stay… I really did! But that Soul Reaper didn't let me..."

I can't seem to say anything. I'll probably start crying again if I try.

"But I'm here now..." She sounds as though she's about to cry herself. "I just graduated, and I did all the paperworks to make sure I get assigned here..."

The words… They still don't come out.

"You haven't… moved on, have you?" Her face is very close to her mine, close enough that I can feel her breath.

"No! Never!" The words finally start coming out, all by themselves. "Not in a hundred years..."

Her eyes are intense as they gaze into mine. Then our lips touch, and hers feel just as soft as five years ago, the kiss just as intoxicating. No, more.

Time seems to stretch on for a long time.

"So… Who was the Soul Reaper that sent you to the afterlife?" I ask. "I think I might want to have a word with him."

"Um, yeah, about that." She looks uncertain. Then she pulls the hood over her head, which somehow manages to completely conceal her face in shadow despite the ample lighting in my room. "The robe is mainly supposed to hide our identities, to prevent exactly this kind of situation." Her voice comes out strangely indistinct, almost like it's not her speaking at all, before she pulls the hood off again. "I… still don't know which Soul Reaper sent me to Soul Society, five years ago."

"Then why force ghosts to go to the afterlife at all?" I struggle to control it, but my voice still begins to rise with anger.

"Because..." There's a pained look in Rina's eyes. It instantly makes my anger die down. "If we don't, the ghost would eventually turn into a Hollow. A monster that eats people's souls."

"Oh."

"That… was the ghost that attacked you earlier," she continues. "He was a person, just like us, until he lost his heart."

"He lost his... heart?" I remember the hole in the Hollow's chest. That sounds anatomically dubious, but... it's the least of my worries now. The feeling that creature gave off, the feeling of hunger and a terrible, terrible emptiness... I'm still afraid of it, but in a different way now. "Did you..." I struggle to let the words out. "Did you put him out of his misery... Rina?"

"No!" She says instantly. I realize that her hands are gripping mine now, and I can feel her shaking. "I... I purified him, James. By destroying his spirit body with my Soulslayer, I sent his soul to Soul Society so he can live a normal afterlife. That's... That's my job, too."

I don't realize that tension at the back of my mind until it finally goes away. So... Rina isn't a murderer. She hasn't destroyed that Hollow in cold blood. She's only purifying it, freeing it from suffering... Phew.

But something still bugs me.

"So... You said that a ghost becomes a Hollow unless he's sent to the afterlife by one of you Soul Reapers, right?" I ask.

"Yeah," she replies. "If we don't, the ghost will keep wandering in the mortal world, lost and unable to communicate with the living... Until his heart erodes away, and he forgets who he is."

"Then, this psychopomp business... Shouldn't it be automated?" I hesitate a bit before asking. "Like, build machines that do this or something? Wouldn't there be a lot less Hollows that way?"

Rina's eyes widen a bit. "There totally should!" This time she's the one who raises her voice in anger. "I asked them the same question, and the old geezers just said that there's no need for change!" There's a hint of bitterness in her voice. It doesn't suit her at all. "Less lost souls and Hollows would mean less need for Soul Reapers, I know, but..." She lets out a frustrated sigh.

"Maybe things will change over time," I suggest. But I'm trying to convince myself just as well as her.

"Yeah, maybe..."

For a moment, we just squeeze each other's hands and say nothing else.

Then something suddenly occurs to me. "Hey, wait... You said you're a Soul Reaper, but that _still_ doesn't explain how I can touch you."

"Oh, um. I guess I kind of forgot to finish the explanation," she says sheepishly. "So yeah, ghosts and stuff are made of particles called spiritons, and those don't interact with atoms. Not normally."

"'Spiritons', huh?" I think about that for a moment. "How do those work on a microscopic level?"

"I don't know!" Rina makes a plain adorable "DX" face. "I tried looking at the research papers, but the math was so complicated!"

"Do they exhibit wave-particle duality?" I press closer. "Are they quantized? Do they obey the Schrodinger equation?"

"...no fair," she pouts. "You got to learn all these cool stuff while I was away!"

"Rina, I will be extremely disappointed if there are no scientists in the afterlife."

"There _are_! I was just so busy with Soul Reaper training that I had no time for science," she grumbles.

"Well, it's never too late to learn, right?" I chuckle. "Anyways. Spiritons. Those don't interact with atoms normally, and...?"

"Right," she continues. "Spiritons can have energy, and we call that energy the extremely creative and original name of 'spirit energy'."

"...this is starting to sound like some kind of manga or something," I mumble.

"Hehe, I guess," she grins. "So yeah, spiritons with spirit energy can exert force on other things, which we call 'spirit pressure'-"

"Wait," I cut her off. "It's a force, but they call it pressure?"

"...apparently?"

I put a palm to my face.

"I'm not the one who named it!"

I sigh. "When I die, I'm going to have a word with them."

"Good luck with that," she says, and shudders. "Ugh, the paperworks..."

Well, I guess that's one thing I won't be looking forward to in the afterlife. Anyways. "So, spirit 'pressure'. I assume that lets the spiritons interact with atoms?"

"If the spirit energy is concentrated enough," Rina says. "If that's the case, you just vibrate your spirit pressure in a certain way and that lets you touch-"

"Sex joke."

She gives me a look.

"...you said 'vibrate' and 'touch'."

She continues to give me said look.

Instead of saying anything else in response, I just give her the same look in return. We stay like that for a moment. Soon, she bursts out laughing, causing me to burst out laughing too. We stay like that for a few more moments.

"I... I thought you didn't like sex jokes?" Rina asks between giggles.

"I guess I s-spent too much time among t-trolls," I say, while gasping for some air. Damn, I've missed this so much. Just talking with Rina, and let the conversation drift to whatever absurd tangents that fit the mood... It's the most fun thing ever. "O-Okay, so... Spirit pressure vibrations let spiritons interact with atoms. So why don't all the other ghosts do that? They can't?"

"Yeah," she nods. "The average ghost doesn't have enough spirit energy. On the other hand, the average Hollow _does_ have enough energy, so..."

I still remember the pain when that Hollow sent me flying. "Oh. Ouch."

She glances at my previously injured shoulder, looking concerned. "Does it still hurt?"

"No, no, it's completely fine," I assure her. "So, that blue-green energy you were using earlier, that's your spirit energy?"

"Um, technically the visible effects of my spirit pressure, I think."

"And you said something about a 'Soulslayer'..." I say, remembering the scythe she used to strike down the Hollow. "Is that the scythe thing you were using?"

"Oh, that?" She perks up, the expression she shows whenever she comes across a topic she finds really interesting. "It's actually not a scythe at all. Here," she says, and pulls off her black cloak with one swift, fluid motion.

My eyes go wide.

Okay, no, it's not like she's wearing a chainmail bikini or anything; it's nothing egregious like that. But the black leather armor hugs her curves tightly, leaving not much to the imagination, and the decorative white outlines on the armor just happen to frame her, uh, finer features... I feel my cheeks heating up, and my mouth becoming very dry. Her figure is just as slim and toned as I remember, and her, uh, chest has, ahem, fully developed since I last saw her. She's also wearing a short black skirt, and thigh-high black boots, leaving a tantalizing strip of soft skin on her thighs exposed...

"H-Hey, don't s-stare at me so much..." She blushes.

Oh God, she's blushing. If this was a manga, I'd be dying of a massive nosebleed right now.

"Geez, at least compliment me or something!" She fidgets.

"Uh... Uh..." _You're hot!_ That's the first thing that pops into my mind. But no, I can't say _that_ to her! "You're very, uh... f-fetching!" I immediately feel like slapping myself. "Fetching"?! Is that the best you can come up with, James Hawking?! I was never very smooth with girls, given, but...

"T-Thanks," she mutters, looking pleased with herself despite blushing even harder. "As a r-reward for t-that, you can s-stare at me all you want..."

Her legs shift a little, letting her change to a more comfortable sitting position. Her long, slender legs… No, James! Don't stare at her thighs, you idiot! And… God, no, don't think about her panties under that skirt! And of course she notices me staring… Agh…

She's still blushing, but the corners of her mouth are curled up in a little smirk. She definitely knows what I'm thinking. Dammit.

"Uh..." My mouth threatens to stop working again. "Is that the, uh, female uniform…?"

"Hehe, you wish," she giggles.

God, I haven't been this embarrassed in literally years.

"The regular uniform is just some drab armor with like no fashion sense," Rina says. Then she beams proudly. "Luckily, strong Soul Reapers like me are allowed to modify our uniforms!"

"How come?" I ask, glad that the topic is finally moving to something other than Rina's massive hotness.

"Spirit pressure again," she explains. "We can make a hardened layer of it around our bodies; it's an ability we call Aegis. For stronger Soul Reapers like me, our Aegis is way stronger than the standard-issue armor they give us, so they don't care if we wear something else as long as people can still recognize us as Soul Reapers."

"Harden" a layer of spirit pressure? That sounds kind of questionable, but… If it allows Rina to wear a "uniform" as sexy as this, I ain't complaining! "Fair enough, but..." Apparently my brain is still too fried to properly control my mouth. "Is the, uh, miniskirt really necessary?"

"Isn't it?" She now definitely has a very obvious smirk as she gives me a knowing look, and rubs her legs together in a way that draws my eyes to her thighs again.

I gulp.

"Pfffft," she bursts out laughing again. "I swear, you're so easy."

I silently glower at her.

"All girls should wear zettai ryouiki!" She declares with a comically serious face. "I'm just taking the first step in having the whole world recognize the one true expression of feminine beauty!"

Sometimes I think I might just be the luckiest guy in the world. Now is one of those times.

"Hey, weren't we supposed to be talking about Soulslayers?" She gives me a mischievous look. "But all you're doing is staring at my chest and legs, you perv!"

I feel myself starting to turn red again. "I-I can't help it! You're t-too..."

"Too what?" She leans in close, blinks at me innocently.

"B-Beautiful..." I mutter, feeling supremely cheesy.

She suddenly gives me a peck on the cheek, making my heart skip another beat or two. Then she flashes a satisfied smile, content with the amount of tormenting she's done for now. "The Soulslayer is a spiritual weapon materialized from a Soul Reaper's soul," she says, and I only just notice the katana strapped to her waist when she puts a hand on the hilt. "Everyone's Soulslayer looks different; the black bathrobe of doom just makes it look like a scythe when we put it on."

"Is that also to make sure people can't recognize individual Soul Reapers?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Then why scythes?" I frown. "I don't think a scythe is a very practical weapon, or very easy to use."

"Tradition, they said," Rina shrugs. "They seemed pretty big on the 'Grim Reaper' image. And yeah, scythes are really hard to use; I'm pretty terrible at it myself. The majority of Soul Reapers I've seen just have longswords or sabers as their Soulslayers, and the others use maces and spears and everything else, but I don't think I've seen anyone using an actual scythe."

"And yours is a… katana?" I try to imagine the Grim Reaper with a Japanese sword. "Bit of a cultural clash there, I think."

"Hey, I'm half-Japanese, you know!" She protests.

"And not because you're like the biggest weeaboo ever?" I grin.

She gives me a look. "Pot, kettle."

"Hey, I'm not the one who thinks every girl should wear zettai ryouiki!"

"Sure you don't," she smirks.

I cough, and try not to stare at her thighs again. "And the color of your spirit pressure… I might be wrong, but isn't that the color of Hatsune Miku's hair?"

"Urgh!" She deflates. "Fine, I admit defeat. I am the biggest weeaboo ever," she says with a pouty look. "But Miku-chan is the cutest thing ever! As a member of her cult, of course I must pay homage to her sacred color!"

I almost blurt out that I think _she_ is the cutest thing ever, but stop myself just in time. "Well, it's a nice-looking color anyways." Admittedly, Rina looks great in _any_ color, but that's too cheesy to say as well. "So does the color indicate elemental attribute or something?" Man, this is really starting to feel like a manga or a video game.

"Um, more like the personality, I think," Rina hesitates a bit and says. "Each person's Soulslayer has a special name and some special abilities, determined by the owner's personality. I think the spirit pressure color is just a part of that."

"Name and abilities, huh?" I look at the katana Rina is holding. The hilt is wrapped in cloth the same color as Rina's spirit pressure, and the hilt guard has an unusual shape, like something halfway between a diamond and a four-pointed star. The sheath is black, with some simple swirly white patterns on it like winds and clouds. "What are yours?"

"My sword's name is Hoshikaze," she says, and draws the sword out partway, with practiced ease. "Most names are either in Latin or whatever mother language the user has, and mine's in Japanese because, well, weeaboo." We both look at the room's light reflecting off the fine steel blade.

"The name means 'star wind', right?" I know a few Japanese characters and phrases, but never got around to learning the actual language.

"Yeah," she nods. "I guess this would be wind- or light-elemental in a game. It lets me create illusions, move really fast, and shoot sword beams."

"Damn, I wish I had cool superpowers like that," I say, a little jealous.

"Don't worry, you'll get them sooner or later!" Rina says cheerfully.

"Huh?" I blink.

"You know why you can see ghosts?" She suddenly looks very excited again.

"Uh, no," I say. "I was hoping you'll tell me."

"I will!" She nods eagerly. "You see, normal people can't see ghosts. So if you _can_ see them, it means you've got a lot more spirit energy than normal people!"

"Wait..." I frown. After hearing her words, the dots are beginning to connect in my head. "You could see ghosts too. Does that mean..."

"Yup!" She grins. "We both have way more spirit energy than average!"

"Is that why you became a Soul Reaper so quickly?"

She nods and beams proudly.

"So that means..." I'm suddenly starting to worry about my prospective afterlife experience.

"Yes! You'll become a Soul Reaper after you die!" She grabs my hands excitedly. "Isn't that awesome?"

"Kind of, yeah..." Truth to be told, having superpowers like Rina's _does_ sound like a whole lot of awesome. "But if I need to _die_ to get the superpowers, I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it very much."

"Oh, think positively!" Her smile becomes very warm and earnest as she leans into me. "You don't have to worry about dying anymore, right? You know that there's a whole life for us after that..."

"Heh, I guess..." I smile too.

For a moment, we just lean on each other, saying nothing, just quietly enjoying each other's presence and warmth.

"Um, James...?" Rina asks after a minute, sounding a little uncertain.

"Hmm?"

"How... How are Mom and Dad doing?"

"Oh. Uh." I hesitate, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable. "I... haven't talked to them in a while."

"Huh? How come?" She looks concerned. Very concerned.

"After you, uh... passed away, things got kind of awkward between us." No, more than uncomfortable; I'm starting to feel pathetic. "Between me and everyone else, really. I talked to people less, and..."

"I'm sorry..." She whispers, holding my hands tightly.

"No, it's not your fault," I say, looking into her eyes, desperately trying to reassure her. "You're here now, and... Oh, I know! I bet Mom and Dad would like to see y-"

I stop myself, but it's too late.

Mom and Dad can't see ghosts.

Fuck.

"Yeah, I know!" For some reason, Rina doesn't sound deterred at all. In fact, she sounds downright _victorious_ as she quickly rummages through a bag tied to her waist. She pulls out a little thumbnail-sized black sphere, puts it on the bed, sends a wisp of blue-green energy into it, and-

With an audible _pop_, the ball explodes into a perfect life-sized replica of Rina.

I stare at the clone of Rina, mouth open.

"Pfffffffffffffft! Hahahahahahahaha!" She bursts out laughing, really hard. "Your... Your face! It's hilarious! Ehehehehehehehehe..."

"You- That- It-" I sputter. "What the hell?!"

"T-T-That's an inflatable h-homunculus," she barely manages to say between giggling fits. "T-Temporary human b-b-body. Hehehehehe..."

"B-But..." I still can't stop gaping. "It was… It was a little black ball! How did that..."

Rina just laughs harder.

I stay pointedly silent until she finally stops laughing, then pointedly glare at her and wait for an explanation.

"R-Right," she breathes. "Homunculi like those are temporary human-like bodies Soul Reapers use when they need to talk to humans. This one's a special collapsible model."

My stare is still incredulous as I reach out to touch the homunculus's skin. It feels soft and warm, exactly the same as Rina's skin, even though the homunculus isn't moving or breathing. "How did it turn from a tiny black ball to something the size of a person?! How heavy and dense would the ball have to be?!"

"I dunno," she shrugs. "It basically weighed like a pebble."

I rub my temples, trying to stave off the headache, and decide to not mention nuclear matter or the Pauli exclusion principle for now. "I swear, one day I'm going to figure all this stuff out. Mark my words."

"Make sure you bring me when you do that!" Rina says. "Now that the academy training is _finally_ over, maybe I'll have some time to read up on all the spiritual science I couldn't study before..."

We look at each other, and both grin. Scientific curiosity is something that I'm very glad we share.

"So, I assume normal people can see the homunculus if you… possess it or something?" I look at the homunculus of Rina, which is wearing a white spaghetti top, frilly pink miniskirt, and thigh-high black stockings. Pretty much one of her typical attires when we're at home, back when she was alive. I feel myself blushing again when I notice that it's showing quite a bit of skin. No, James, don't try to peek under the skirt…

"Yep!" She grins. She stands up, walks over to the homunculus, and just lets herself… fall down into it. For a moment it looks just like a ghost passing through a solid object, something I've seen countless times. But then Rina does not come out on the other side. The homunculus shudders, begins breathing, and opens its eyes. "Hi!" It waves at me cheerily.

"Rina…?" I say with some uncertainty.

"No, I'm actually Rina's twin sister who was separated from her at birth!" The homunculus says with the sort of fake serious face that can only belong to Rina. "My name's Yuna!"

"Wait, 'Yuna'?" I frown. "Which series was that from again? I assume you don't mean Final Fantasy X."

"Pretty Face?" Rina suggests. "You know, the one about a martial artist who had a coma and-"

"Oh, that," I cut her off. "Me no like gender bender. No thanks."

"But he looked cute as a girl!" She mumbles. "And I really am Rina's twin sister!" She insists. "When Rina gets back, we could even have a three-"

My eyes go wide.

"-some..." Her voice trails off.

I gulp.

There's a moment of awkward silence as we both blush furiously.

"So… I guess we'll go see Mom and Dad tomorrow…?" Rina murmurs distractedly.

"Sure, but… How will we explain things to them…?" I half-heartedly ask, being just as distracted myself.

"We can figure that out tomorrow..."

I just nod. As we hold each other's hands, I can feel her heartbeat thumping, as well as my own.

"James..."

"Yeah?" Half of me is both anticipating and dreading what I think may be coming next, and the other half is calling me an idiot and pervert for thinking that at all.

"This body is anatomically correct..." Her whisper feels soft and hot.

My mouth is now too dry to say anything.

"And it can't get pregnant..."

Oh, God.

"We only did it once, and it was over five years ago, and..."

My brain can barely process what she's saying anymore. I just nod weakly.

This time _she_ is the one who gulps. "Can we… make up for lost time…?"

Her body presses against mine, and our lips touch, and…

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Hehe, you stayed fit during these years," Rina giggles. Her face is still a little flushed, and her warm, warm smile is the most beautiful thing I've seen.

"Well, martial arts is definitely cooler than regular exercise, so..." The memory of her lithe, curvaceous body, that I've gotten more than a good look at earlier, pops into my mind. "You're in good shape yourself..." Then again, she's never been _not_ in good shape, so…

"It was easy, with all the Soul Reaper training..." Her expression turns serious. "Listen, James… I'm still a Soul Reaper. It's my job to guide lost souls to Soul Society and purify Hollows. So if you see me gone in the middle of the night..."

"Yeah, I understand," I say in my best reassuring tone. Truth to be told, a part of me does want to keep Rina all to myself, but I can hardly interfere with her duty…

"Thanks..." She smiles. "But my schedule isn't very busy, so I'll try to spend as much time with you as I can, all right?"

"All right..." I smile. "I'm just glad that you're here again..."

"Me too..."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note:**

Not a lot of action in this chapter (no, not the kind of "action" that happened near the end of the chapter, guttermind). I _was_ going have a few combat scenes in this chapter, but it's already getting really long, so I decided to put them in a separate chapter. This chapter ended up as just the two main characters catching up with each other and getting all the expositional stuff out of the way. There will be far more combat scenes in the following chapters.

The story will likely not contain too many sex scenes, as I'll only have one when it makes sense in the plot at the time to have one. There will not be any sex scenes purely for the sake of sex scenes.

As I said in the prologue, the plot of this fic in its first (short) arc will somewhat resemble the plot in Bleach's first arc. But this fic is not meant to be just a carbon copy of Bleach canon with different characters and cultures; I do intend to have the plot diverge completely soon after. If you have doubts, just read on to find out.


	3. Chapter 2: Reaper

**Author's Note**:

EDIT ON NOVEMBER 18, 2015:

After talking with my friend and proofreader Hierophant, I've decided to revise some of the fighting scenes in this fanfic, to more readily reflect the conflicts that are the underlying causes of each fight. In most cases, I've added some more insight into the main character's thoughts, as the fights progressed.

In this chapter, only the Adjuchas fight scene had been revised. You don't need to re-read any other sections.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Chapter 2: Reaper**

The next morning, when I open my eyes, Rina is no longer there.

I feel my heart sink. So it was a dream after all...

But wait. I smell something. Is that... garlic bread? And I hear the sound of the microwave too...

I put on some clothes as fast as I can and rush to the kitchen. There she is, humming to herself as she cooks an omelette, while a few slices of garlic bread sit in the toaster, and two bowls of milk slowly spin around inside the microwave. The moment I enter the kitchen, she apparently hears me and turns around.

"Good morning!" She flashes me a brilliant smile. "I woke up early, so I made breakfast!"

I feel relief rush through me. "Phew... So you weren't just a dream..."

"Hey, I thought I proved it to you already that I'm real?" She gives me a pouty look.

"Sorry," I say. "It's just that... I'm afraid this might all be in my mind... you know?"

"It's alright," she smiles. "Hey, can you come here for a minute?" She asks while still handling the omelette with her hands.

I oblige. "What is it?"

She gives me a peck on the lips. "I'm here now, so you don't have to be afraid anymore, okay?"

"Okay," I smile.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Hey, Rina..." I begin to ask after we've finished breakfast. "Your body, the homunculus… Does it actually need to eat?"

"Huh?" She thinks for a second. "No, I don't think so. It _can_ taste food, and digest it for energy, but I don't think it _needs_ to. It just needs spirit energy from whoever using it to work." Then her eyes widen, as though she suddenly realizes something. "Oh no! I didn't realize… If you're short on cash, I probably shouldn't eat a second person's share of food if I don't have to… I'm so sorry!"

"Wait, what?" I blink. "No, no, it's not like that! I-"

"Do you… have a job?" She asks carefully, like she's afraid to trip on a landmine.

"...no," I say, feeling a bit ashamed. "But Mom and Dad still provide me with living expenses, and I'm sure they can afford to feed another person, so..."

"Oh, thank goodness," she sighs in relief. "We'll go talk to them later today, alright?"

"Yeah," I smile and nod. Though I'm still feeling uncertain about it, it'll probably be good to reconnect with my adoptive parents. "Uh, can I ask a few more questions, though?"

"Sure!" She grins. Good thing that she loves to talk about pretty much anything related to science.

"So, uh… Is there any particular reason the homunculus was made to be, uh, anatomically correct?" I feel myself starting to blush again, as I remember just _how_ anatomically correct her body was last night. Her slender, deliciously sexy body…

"Oh, um." She's starting to blush too. But she gives me a mischievous smirk despite that. "Hehe, I'm sure you can tell me that."

Welp. Of course she knows what I'm thinking. I blush harder. "N-No, seriously."

Thankfully, she doesn't continue to tease me. "It's for the sake of familiarity," she explains. "The homunculi are designed to be as similar to our real bodies as possible, so we wouldn't feel weird when we use them. Besides, homunculi are, like, grown in vats or something. Made from a bunch of mixed human DNA. So it'd probably be harder to make them _not_ anatomically correct than otherwise."

"Mixed human DNA?" I think about it for a bit. "So it doesn't have _your_ DNA in particular?"

"Nope. Good thing it's unaffected by diseases too; the results would probably be really screwy if they did blood tests on homunculi."

"So… Is _that_ why the homunculus is, uh… sterile?" No matter how I phrase the question, it still sounds awkward.

"Um, I think so." Rina blushes again, but immediately begins teasing me to make herself feel better, I bet. "That must make you so happy."

"S-Shut up." But I have to admit… Being able to have sex whenever we want, and never needing to use protection… Which guy wouldn't like that? But then that raises another related question in my head. "Uh, what about ghosts? Can they, you know..."

"Y-Yeah," Rina replies, still blushing. Goddammit, she's so cute when she does that. "Ghosts are kind of like homunculi. Like, as long as they have spirit energy, they don't have to eat or drink or anything. But they can have children too. Except... Ghosts live waaaaaay longer than humans, so the birth rates are really low."

"Wait, ghosts don't live forever?" This kind of alarms me. I want to live forever, to be honest.

"Well, it seems like the stronger a ghost is, the longer it lives," Rina says after pondering the question for a second. "We do have ghosts passing away due to old age. But from what I've heard, the captain-commander, who is like the strongest Soul Reaper ever, doesn't look like he's aged at all in the past thousand years. So they kind of don't really know."

"So what happens to the ghost after it, uh, dies, a second time?"

"Reincarnation," this time Rina answers quickly. "The ghost has its memories wiped and reborn as a baby."

"Sounds awfully Buddhist," I mutter.

"Hehe, yeah," Rina grins. "Gets the Christian fundamentalists worked up every time." We both chuckle a little at the thought.

"So. I've decided that I'll become strong enough to live forever," I state. "Dying once sounds bad enough already. Dying _again_ after that? Pass."

"Good! You're on the same track as me then!" Rina smiles brightly. "We'll be together forever and ever and ever and ever and ever!" She deliberately makes it sound as sappy as possible as she wraps her arms around my neck. But I don't mind. For a moment, we share a brief kiss.

"Anyways, birth rates," I say. "What, does Soul Society have birth regulations or something? Like, you have to apply and go through paperworks and bureaucrats to be allowed to have children, or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that," she shakes her head. Then she frowns for a bit. "I _did_ try to look up stuff like this a while back, but I never found much. I almost never see things like contraception in Soul Society, but I haven't heard of anything like unwanted pregnancies or abortions either in the five years that I've been there. Since ghosts can potentially have very fine control of the spirit energy in their bodies, there are some hypotheses that ghosts have some kind of internal birth control mechanism that makes it so that they won't have children unless they really want to. According to what I've seen online, anyways."

"Wait, there's internet in the afterlife?" I blink.

"Yep!" She grins cheerily. "It connects to the internet on Earth too!"

"_Damn_," I mutter. "Anyways. You know what the birth control thing sounds like? It sounds like some excuse a bad fanfiction writer would make up so that his characters can have sex without worrying about the, you know, consequences."

"Gasp!" Rina says in fake horror. "Are we actually characters in a bad fanfic?!"

"_OCs_ in a bad fanfic," I say, and make a dramatic menacing gesture with my hands.

"No... That's not true! That's impossible!"

"Search your feelings! You know it to be true!"

"NOOOOOO! DOOOO NOOOOT WAAAAANT!"

We're both grinning like idiots after that particular exchange is done. Well, at least our conversations still go off on tangents all the time, like conversations in real life do. After sharing a few more laughs, I try to get back on topic again. "Okay, seriously. Is the afterlife a world of, like, eternal sexual freedom or something?"

"I bet you'd like that," Rina smirks.

"I totally would not!" I say with my best gentlemanly face. "I'm all for monogamy, and you know it!"

"Yes, yes, I know, you're the most faithful boyfriend ever," she says with a tone that's more like speaking to a good pet, while petting me on the head. Then her expression becomes a bit more serious. "But no, Soul Society is actually really traditional and conservative in a lot of ways."

"Like forcing its police officers to wear black bathrobes and use big unwieldy scythes?"

"Yeah, like that," she grins. "So as far as I know, infidelity seems to be pretty heavily frowned upon. You aren't likely to see strangers casually having sex with each other anytime soon."

"Phew. At least it's not some otaku's wet dream or something." Then something occurs to me. "Hey, wait a minute. If ghosts are anatomically correct, and we can touch each other, then why did you even need the homunculus when we... you know?"

"Oh. I guess I didn't?" She scratches her head. "I just wanted to get used to the homunculus. And to make you not look like you're humping thin air, to someone who can't see ghosts," she smirks.

"I think if someone can _see_ us doing the deed, we have much bigger things to worry about." But eh, it's not like I mind whether she's inhabiting a human body or not. I honestly don't think I can tell the difference when, ahem, doing the deed.

...but then a rather disturbing thought suddenly pops into my head.

"Uh, Rina?" I hesitate a bit before asking. "What if some, uh, unsavory individual gets a hold of your homunculus?"

"Um."

"...yeah." There's a short awkward pause after that.

"Well, the homunculus doesn't always look like me, at least," she says in a reassuring tone. "It normally looks like some ridiculously generic person, and changes appearance to match the ghost inhabiting it. And it'll change back to its original appearance after a day or two if I don't keep it soaked in my own spirit energy. So unless the hypothetical, um, unsavory individual has a fetish for inhuman blandness..."

I feel myself sighing in relief. Maybe I'm being a little possessive of Rina, but eh. I give her hand a little squeeze, and she squeezes back.

"Geez, for how long are you going to keep talking about sex?" Rina suddenly says.

"W-What?!" I cough. "My interests are p-purely academic! It's not-"

"You mean you aren't interested in my gorgeous and sexy body?" Rina complains with fake sadness as she squirms in exaggerated movements. "You're so mean, senpai!"

"No, I-" I try to retort, but can't think of anything. She (still) knows all of my weaknesses. "...I'm not even your senpai," I finally mumble after a long moment.

"Ehehehehehe..." She giggles as she sees my reaction.

Well, at least we both know that I'm actually a closet masochist who secretly enjoys being teased by her. So it's all good.

"Oh, crap," I suddenly bolt upright. "I forgot my morning exercise again!"

"You, trying to keep a schedule?" Rina looks at me with fake shock. "I don't know you anymore!"

"Well, I _try_ to," I say wryly. "Try and fail. Hence 'again'."

"Hmm..." She thinks for a second. "How about sparring with me for a bit? You said you still practice martial arts, right?"

"Hey, that actually sounds pretty interesting," I grin. "Come on, let's go then."

As we change clothes, Rina (still) doesn't bother to leave the room. And she still smirks when she catches me staring at her. She pulls a change of clothes out of her little bag that looks far too small to contain this many articles of clothing; I have to assume that there's some sort of magic going on like her collapsible homunculus. Her general style hasn't really changed in five years, consisting of a cute blouse and skirt with mostly pastel colors, plus thigh-high black stockings for the zettai ryouiki that she absolutely must include in pretty much every outfit. Seriously, she has an even bigger zettai ryouiki fetish than I do. As for me, I'm content with just regular workout pants and a T-shirt with the Windows 8 Blue Screen of Death printed on the front. My fashion sense pales utterly when faced with Rina's, but her amused grin at my geeky shirts is enough consolation.

Rina raises an eyebrow when she sees the long wooden Japanese sword in my closet. "Is that a nodachi or something? It's definitely longer than a katana."

"Yeah. I like the increased reach," I say. "And I was always more strength than dexterity, so."

Then she sees the other sword, this one a proper wooden katana, and grabs it. "Want a sword fight?" Her grin is a little fierce.

"Sure, why not?" I grin back.

As we face each other in the lawn outside my apartment, I immediately see hints of Rina's skill with the sword in her hand. She carries the katana with the familiarity and ease of someone who's been using it for years, something that I haven't seen from anyone other than those who seriously know what they're doing.

"Yours is a lot longer than mine," she says as she looks at our swords.

"That's what she said."

She gives me a stare.

"But that _was_ what you said!" I try to put on a straight face and not laugh. "And seriously, there's _wood_ involved too! Long sticks of wood!"

She continues to give me the stare. But a few moments later she starts laughing too. "I-I'm going to totally k-kick your ass at this rate, you know," she says between giggles.

"Bring it on!" I grin. "Face me with your true strength, fellow swordsman!"

"Wait, you sure?" She suddenly looks a bit concerned. "Since I've been, you know, actually trained in using a katana in real fights..."

"Yeah, I actually want to see you fight," I say.

"Okay, don't say I didn't warn you!" She says cheerfully.

And she proceeds to utterly obliterate me in under ten seconds.

"...well, this is kind of embarrassing," I mutter, as I feel her wooden blade held against my neck, my own sword knocked out of my hands.

"I told you so," she victoriously smirks.

"Okay, I changed my mind. Please do go easy on me, Master. This humble peasant is no match for your skills."

"Since you asked so nicely..." She smiles.

And the next ten minutes or so are filled with the sound of wood striking against wood. Even though Rina is now obviously holding back, she's still a scarily competent swordsman. Despite my weapon's advantages in range and power, I still can't hit her even once, as she makes full use of her advantage in speed and agility to either parry or effortlessly dodge all of my strikes. As for her attacks… Suffice to say, had this been a serious fight, I would have already died several times. The sparring gets more intense as time goes on, and I almost manage to overpower her in a blade lock using my greater strength. But after a few seconds, Rina suddenly slips away, making me momentarily lose balance; she takes that opportunity to knock the sword out of my hands again with a swift strike.

"Ouch, my hands," I say as I massage the sore bits.

"Don't worry! If anything's broken, I can always heal it!" Rina says flippantly.

I give her a stare. "That doesn't sound very reassuring, you know."

She sticks her tongue out at me.

I try to put on an angry face, but it just turns into a grin again. Rina is way too fun to be around.

And we're both visibly sweating; the sword fight was some pretty strenuous exercise. "I think that's enough exercise for now," I say. Though I can't help but to notice that while I'm panting slightly, Rina doesn't look tired or out of breath at all. "You wanna call it a day?"

"Sure," she says. "That was pretty fun!"

"Yeah," I smile. "Uh, you wanna shower first?"

She suddenly blushes. "Um… You wanna do it… together?"

My heart nearly skips a beat again. Damn, she does that on a far too consistent basis.

"I'll take that as a yes…?" Her voice is small as she fidgets, but there's a little smile on her lips.

I gulp, and weakly nod.

"...let's go then."

Her hand is warm as it takes hold of mine. And so is the rest of her…

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"So how exactly are we gonna tell Mom and Dad?" Rina asks me as we prepare to leave for our visit to our parents, to her biological and to me adoptive. "They can't see ghosts, so it's not like I could just show them..."

"I..." I'm honestly not sure what to say here. "I think Mom and Dad would be happy to just see you, Rina. As long as they can have you back… I don't think it'd really matter to them what explanation you use."

"Then… Do we just tell them the truth, and hope they buy it?" She sounds just like a normal girl now, with her own fears and doubts, not some all-powerful monster-slaying Soul Reaper with incredible swordsmanship and magic.

"I can't think of any other plausible explanation, so..." I think for a moment. "I mean, you can't just say 'I wasn't dead; I was just hiding for the past five years' or something like that, right?"

"Um, maybe say I had amnesia or something?" She suggests.

"But you had a funeral! There was a body!"

"Fake body?"

"...why?"

"Maybe there's a government conspiracy!"

"...and why did that have to involve _you_?"

"I dunno, maybe I'm actually the chosen one destined to save the world or something?"

"...at this point, I think 'I became a ghost' is a more plausible explanation," I sigh. But we're both grinning again, and at least the heavy mood is lifted somewhat.

"All right then, back from the dead it is!" Rina smiles, looking more confident now. "Let's go, then?"

As we leave my apartment and walk down the street, Rina's arms naturally wrap around mine, and our fingers quickly entwine together without effort. Just like we'd done many times five years ago. Having her walking beside me like this, smiling brightly, hands held, puts me more at ease than practically everything else. It feels _right_. We make the usual random chit-chat along the way, and I occasionally stop to make note of some landmarks that were made during the time when Rina wasn't here. I haven't felt more relaxed like this in literally years.

"...ooooOOOOOOOOoooooooo..."

"Oh hey, a ghost," I say as I hear the stereotypical ghostly moaning that only we can hear. It's from the same ghost of the man in his forties that I saw yesterday. "Sure brings back memories, doesn't it?"

"Hehe, it does," Rina smiles. Then her eyes go a little wide. "Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot! I'm supposed to send him to Soul Society!"

"Oh, right." I take a few looks around us. It's a Saturday morning, and we're in a quiet area of the suburbs, so I don't really see anyone around. "Are you going to, uh, leave your body and..."

"No, I don't have to," Rina says, as the large menacing scythe suddenly appears with a flash of turquoise light, along with the black bathrobe of doom.

"Hey, wait!" I flinch when I see the weapon come out. "Are you seriously going to-"

"Relax!" She laughs when she sees my face. "I'm not going to cut him apart or anything!"

"No, I mean..." I hiss. "What if someone sees?!"

"Oh, that?" She looks at herself. "Don't worry, you're the only human around who can see this!"

"...oh, right." Admittedly, I'm still a bit nervous about this whole thing, even when it's Rina. But I decide to trust her for now, and watch her actions with interest.

"Hey, Mister!" Rina calls out to the ghost as she runs toward him, her movements seemingly not impeded at all by the scythe she's holding.

"Huh? You talkin' to me?" The ghost turns his head and frowns. "You some kind of Grim Reaper or somethin'?"

"Yep!" Rina smiles. "I'm a Soul Reaper, and it's my job to guide you to the afterlife!"

"Afterlife?" The ghost frowns. "If that's what you say, then it's about friggin' time! I've been lookin' for some kind of afterlife for years!"

"Then your search is over!" Rina says cheerfully. "Enjoy your second life!"

And she taps the ghost on his forehead with the bottom end of her scythe's shaft.

I don't know what I'm expecting, but that definitely isn't it. After said tap on the head, the ghost's whole body quickly starts to glow with a soft bluish white light. The light expands to cover his whole body, then fades away. And he is gone.

"Wait, is that it?" I take a few more looks around us to make sure I haven't accidentally missed anything.

"Yep. Were you expecting anything more?" Rina looks amused.

"Uh, don't you have to, like, 'guide' the ghost to the afterlife or something?"

"Oh, that's more symbolic than anything," she explains as she dismisses her scythe and robe in another flash of light. "We Soul Reapers have the ability to send souls to Soul Society, and we just have to use it on the ghosts. Destroying the ghost's spirit body with the scythe would've worked, like you said, but obviously that's really cruel. Which is why we have the Soul Burial process."

"So you just… bop them on the head?" A part of me wonders if she's messing with me again.

"Yeah." She giggles a bit when she sees my expression. Yep, she's definitely messing with me. Even if she's telling the truth.

"I assume this doesn't work on those Hollow things."

"Unfortunately, nope." Her face falls a little. "Gotta do the horrible slicy stabby things with Hollows."

"Because their skulls are too thick for the spiritual head-bopping?" I say, remembering the skull-like mask of the Hollow from yesterday.

She grins. "No, it's not that. The spiritual head-bopping, a.k.a. Soul Burial, only works on pure souls. So we have to purify the Hollows first, via the horrible slicy stabby."

"Right..."

Well, my worldview has definitely been thoroughly challenged in the past sixteen hours or so. I wonder how long the rational skeptic in me is going to last.

As we enter a more populated area, our conversation once again turns to more mundane topics. I mean, I don't want people to think we're crazy, if they hear us talking about ghosts and monsters and such. Thanks to the afterlife somehow having internet, Rina seems to have mostly kept up with the latest trends in anime otaku culture. She knows how Naruto ended, she's read all the volumes of Accel World (even the ones I haven't), and she absolutely gushes everywhere when I bring up Love Live. She looks like she practically can't wait to go to the karaoke again so she can sing for me all the songs she's heard in the last five years.

Right. She may be a badass superpowered Soul Reaper now, but she's still the girl I fell in love with. I'm glad.

"James?"

I abruptly turn my head away from Rina to face the source of the voice. Tall, thin, slightly pale, slicked back dark blond hair, piercing gray eyes, wearing a formal shirt and pants even for everyday occasions… Of course, of all the classmates I could've run into on the bus, it's Gunther Austerlitz. A guy that I have rather mixed feelings toward. On one hand, he's really smart and has lots of intriguing ideas, which I can't help but to respect. On the other hand, he's kind of an arrogant douchebag.

"Is that your girlfriend, James?" Gunther asks before I can say anything. "Since when did you even get one?"

Did I mention that he's got the social graces of a sledgehammer? I mean, geez, it takes serious skill to be worse than _me_ at dealing with people.

_Why, yes, this ultra-gorgeous girl who also happens to be a geek like me is my girlfriend. You jealous?_ That's what I feel tempted to say. But come on, I'm not going to stoop to his level. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me," I say, and give him a thin smile.

"Hi! Nice to meet you!" Rina cheerfully joins in. "I'm Rina. What's your name?"

"Gunther," he says. Then he stares at her intently, eyes narrowed. Then he sits on a bus seat facing us, and says nothing else.

And he continues to stare at Rina all the way until we get off the bus.

"Well, that sure was an interesting guy," Rina says as the bus Gunther is still on drives out of our sight.

"…he was staring at you," I mutter.

"Maybe he was dazzled by my amazing good looks?" She suggests. But she herself looks obviously quite uncomfortable.

"No, really. The way he looked at you was something else. Kind of like… How do I put this? Kind of like a hunter observing a dangerous wild animal." I frown. "He couldn't… You don't think he knows about your status as a Soul Reaper, right?"

"I don't think so…" Rina frowns too, thinking. "His spirit pressure _is_ a lot stronger than the average person's, from what I've sensed, but… He'd just be able to see ghosts then, like you. And I'm in my homunculus, so he shouldn't be able to tell me apart from a normal person…"

"Geez, in addition to being an insufferable genius, now he's got high spirit pressure too?" I grumble. "Ugh. I'm totally not feeling inadequate or anything."

"But at least you've got a girlfriend!" Rina grins and clings to my arm.

"Heh, yeah." I let out a small sigh. "We probably shouldn't worry about it too much. Maybe he's just being weird. Mom and Dad are more important things to think about, right?"

"Right."

Nothing particularly eventful happens as we walk toward our parents' house, aside from Rina performing the spiritual head-bopping, uh, I mean Soul Burial, to send a couple more ghosts to Soul Society. Nevertheless, both of us are very visibly nervous as we stand in front of the house door.

"Y-You ready?" I give Rina's hand a squeeze, and try to calm my quickly beating heart.

"Yeah…" She squeezes back.

"Well, here goes…"

I press the doorbell.

"Coming!" I hear Dad's voice calling out. A few seconds later, the door opens.

My adoptive parents are two of those people who look much, much younger than they should. Take my father, Jonathan Adams, for example. He's in his late forties, but there's no wrinkle whatsoever on his face, and his brown hair is just as dark as I remember, without a single strand of gray. His stride is as strong and steady as ever. In fact, if he dresses and acts right, he can probably pass off for someone in his thirties or even twenties. The same thing applies to my mother, Hoshizora Yuiko, except she can pull it off even more easily. I can just barely see her long black hair, and from behind I can almost guarantee that she'll be mistaken for a young woman by most people.

Dad's eyes are the only hint that he's older than he looks. The eyes are the exact same color as the small, irregular lump of unknown green metal he wears as a pendant, strangely enough. Whereas Rina's green eyes are full of enthusiasm and life, Dad's eyes… have something else. He must've experienced some less than pleasant things in the past, and grown wiser from them.

Rather than the usual stoicism, right now these green eyes are wide with shock.

"R-Rina…?!"

I clear my throat. "Dad, we can explain…"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

We end up staying for most of the day. By the time we leave, it's already past dark outside.

"That went well," Rina says as we walk toward the bus stop. The radiant smile on her face almost seems to light up the darkness around us. Or maybe that's her spirit pressure actually glowing?

"Heh, I guess," I chuckle. "But… Don't you think Mom and Dad accepted it a bit too easily?" I remember their faces when we explained to them that Rina came back from the dead as a Soul Reaper. There was surprise on their faces, then understanding, and worry, but I couldn't see any confusion or doubts about our sanity.

"Maybe it's because we used to talk about ghosts all the time?" Rina grins. "With them, I mean. They never doubted us back then. I guess they wouldn't start doubting us now?"

"Oh, right…" I remember the day I was sent to Mom's psychiatric clinic, when I was still an orphan. When I described to her how I could see ghosts, instead of dismissing me as delusional like all the other doctors I saw before her, she decided to adopt me. She never seemed to doubt Rina's ability to see ghosts either. Are they just that trusting of us? Or is there something else… "At least it turned out well. The problem's already solved, so we shouldn't worry about it anymore, right?"

"Yeah."

The trip back to my apartment is also mostly uneventful. We run into a few more ghosts, who seem to be more active at night, and Rina sends them all to Soul Society. Nothing particularly worth mentioning.

Until something in her bag suddenly starts blaring a godawful noise.

"Ugh! I thought you have better tastes in ringtones than this?!" I cover my ears. "Wait. How do you even _have_ a phone?"

However, Rina's face is serious. More serious than I've ever seen her. "That's a _Hollow alarm_," she hisses. "_High-level_ Hollow alarm. There's going to be trouble."

"I'll come with y-" My mouth automatically begins to say, but I cut myself off. A normal person like me would just get killed if I try to involve myself in the fight. "Never mind. Should I go somewhere to hide or-"

"Too late," Rina says quietly. Do I see her… shaking? "It's coming toward _us_. I can sense-"

_Slam!_

I flinch back violently as the Hollow drops down in front of us with no warning, creating a visible crater in the ground. This one is smaller than the one from last night, only about two meters tall, its whole body covered in bone-white chitinous armor and shaped roughly like an insect. It possesses only four limbs, a pair of powerful-looking grasshopper-like legs, and a pair of mantis-like arms that each ends in a long, vicious blade. Its mask looks like the head of a fly, still made of bleached white bone but with two large, bulbous compound eyes that glow a bone-chilling blue in the darkness. And above all else, the gaping hole in the creature's chest reveals it for what it is.

Compared to the Hollow yesterday, the sheer dread this creature exudes is much, much, _much_ worse. It feels like I can barely breathe, let alone move.

"Is that… an Adjuchas…?!" I hear shock in her voice, and… fear. Is Rina scared of this thing too…?!

For a moment, the Hollow just looks back and forth between Rina and myself.

"A-Adjuchas…? W-What's… t-that?" Forcing the words out of my mouth seems like a tremendous effort.

"B-Basically a super-powerful Hol-"

Rina doesn't even get the opportunity to finish her sentence when the "Adjuchas" pounces, propelling itself forward with its powerful legs. In a flash, Rina's robe and scythe appears, just in time to avoid the first brutal slash from one of the monster's blades. It immediately swings its other blade, then the first, then the second, and the first, in a flurry of slashes that my eyes can barely follow. Rina is forced to use her scythe to block, its large blade just managing to keep up with the Hollow's two swords. Even though things like this only happens in movies and anime and whatever, the clashing of blades between Rina and the Hollow are literally producing showers of sparks. And I just stand there, body completely frozen, eyes transfixed on the fierce battle before me.

When the Hollow's relentless assaults finally slow down a little, Rina takes the opportunity to leap back with a burst of turquoise energy and speed. Her left hand grabs the hem of her black robe, and pulls it off of herself in one swift motion. The robe then appears to collapse into a small black sphere in her hand, which she puts into her bag. Except there is one more black sphere in that hand, and she's once again wearing her Soul Reaper armor; she must've taken off her homunculus and collapsed it at the same time. As the shadowy robe leaves her body, her scythe's form quickly shifts in the darkness, until it is in the shape of the katana I've seen yesterday. As the robe is taken off, I feel Rina's spirit pressure flood the area, its calm and soothing presence somewhat cancelling out the Hollow's ravenous hunger and bloodlust. Breathing feels a lot easier now.

But that's not all. "Soar, Hoshikaze!" Rina shouts; the look on her face as she does that is the fiercest I've seen. Another wave of spirit pressure surges, no, _bursts_ forth from her, as the blade of her katana changes from its usual steely gray to a clear, pristine white. A nebulous cloud of blue, green, and turquoise, the colors blending into one another and slowly shifting in mesmerizing patterns, surrounds her blade, and the same colors are also seemingly contained under the surface of the white metal itself. Motes of starlight sparkle in the air as the blade passes through it. Streams of the nebulous energy extend from the sword and swirl around Rina's body like a gentle breeze, twining around her limbs, merging into her aura as a seamless whole, making the weapon appear as an extension of herself. I find myself unable to help but to stare at the incredible display of elegance, beauty, and power.

[_A/N: "Hoshikaze" means "Star Wind" in Japanese._]

The Hollow lunges at Rina again. But this time, Rina _does_ move too quickly for my eyes to see. I can only see the trail of starlight as the blade reaches out to intercept the Hollow's weapon with blazing speed. This time, Rina is more than fast enough to keep up with the two of the Hollow's swords with ease, as she almost casually parries each and every strike the creature makes.

However… Is it just me, or is Rina actually being slowly pushed back, despite her increase in power? Her frowning face definitely doesn't look too pleased with the situation…

Suddenly, Rina disappears in a blur of speed. When the Hollow realizes that Rina has disappeared, Rina has already reappeared a few meters behind the Hollow. As the Hollow tries to turn around, Rina swings down her blade in a smooth, graceful motion; her spirit pressure also flares at the same time. What follows is pretty much one of the coolest things I've ever seen. A thin crescent-shaped wave of blue-green energy, its sharpness almost palpable, is unleashed from the edge of the blade. Before I realize it, the wave of energy has already impacted against the Hollow's shell.

Except… The attack barely makes a scratch.

I see Rina grit her teeth and mutter a curse under her breath. Then she's gone again, disappeared into bursts of speed so quick and frequent that I almost can't see her _at all_. At brief, less-than-a-second intervals, she stops to swing her sword, but disappears again before the wave of energy even reaches the Hollow. This creates an awe-inspiring sight of dozens of crescents of turquoise light, all slicing into the monster at almost the same time, from multiple angles. For a second, it almost look like the Hollow is going to be cut into hundreds of small pieces…

But as the dust settles, the Hollow is still only covered in scratch marks. They're numerous, but none of them are deep enough to have penetrated the armor itself. And this time, Rina is visibly panting. Not too much, but moving so quickly must have tired her out at least somewhat.

The fight doesn't look like it's going well, for Rina. Dammit… I wish I can do something to help, but what can a mere muggle like me do in this kind of situation…

And the Hollow too seems to realize that it's at a clear advantage. It opens its mouth, which still looks vaguely human-like despite the rest of its head looking like that of a fly. A sphere of hellish crimson light begin to gather in that mouth, containing a terrible, _terrible_ power that paralyzes me in fear once again despite Rina's presence.

"C-Cero?!" Rina gasps out. Her eyes are wide in what I desperately hope to not be terror.

The red orb continues to grow and rise in power. I try to speak, but no word comes out. The Hollow from yesterday… That was nothing. _This_ is like truly staring at death in the face. I find myself once again wondering if I'm going to die tonight. I don't want to die… I want to live with Rina! I…

"Binding #39: Spinner Lock!" Rina shouts, and raises her sword. A wide disk of spinning, pale yellow energy materializes in front of her, and expands in size, until it is large enough to cover her entire front side.

[_A/N: "Binding #39: Spinner Lock" corresponds to "Bakudou #39: Enkousen" in canon._]

A split second later, the Hollow lets loose its gathered energy in one massive, cataclysmic cone-shaped blast.

There's no heat in the red energy, yet when it touches the ground, the asphalt is charred and reduced to ashes. The energy crashes into Rina's shield, pushing against it, making a harsh sound like _something_ grinding against _something else_. Rina visibly grimaces in pain as I see her pour more energy into the shield, making it glow brighter, trying desperately to hold back the wave of pure destruction. But the shield is cracking. It almost hurts to watch, and I find myself cursing under my breath, cursing my inability to do anything, if only to make this just a little easier for Rina…

With nothing else I can do, I turn my gaze back to the Hollow. As it fires its cone of destructive energy, its shape is at the same time changing. The blade on its left arm is shrinking, while the one on its right arm grows.

After what seems like an eternity, the wave of devastating red energy finally thins, then disappears. Rina's shield shatters only the barest instant later.

"_Rina!_" This time, I'm able to scream, to warn her. But I'm too late.

The Hollow lunges, sword outreached in a stabbing motion. Clearly tired from her previous exertion, Rina nevertheless quickly raises her blade to block. But unlike me, she hasn't seen the Hollow's transformation, her vision having been obscured by the torrent of red energy. And she doesn't see it coming when the Hollow's blade, now twice as long and twice as powerful, longer than even Rina's whole body, reaching past her own parry to slice against the flesh of her shoulder.

A scream of pain. Droplets of red staining the ground.

The Hollow attacks again, this time its sword seemingly faster as well; I can almost feel the huge amount of power concentrated in its weapon. Tired and wounded, Rina is barely managing to block all the attacks, and the blocks are becoming sloppier and sloppier. I almost cry out for her again, but stop myself; I can't give her another distraction in a situation like this. She quickly suffers another wound, then another, and I cringe at each one, as though it's my own flesh that's being cut. Is this what the supernatural world is truly like…? Harsh, merciless battles of life and death, where every move is vital to your survival?

After a heart-pounding ten seconds (and decidedly not the _good_ kind of heart-pounding), Rina finally seems to find an opportunity to draw back. "Seikou Genshin!" She shouts; her sword begins glowing a brilliant white. She spins the katana in a full circle, and a blinding flash engulfs her, evidently catching the Hollow by surprise. However, the Hollow doesn't seem to be actually _blinded_ by the light, and immediately lashes out with its sword-

Except when the light disappears, there are now _seven_ of Rina.

[_A/N: "Seikou Genshin" means "Illusory Bodies of Starlight" in Japanese._]

It's not hard to tell which one is the real one; it's the only one that's injured. And I'm not sure, but I think the other ones are a bit more shimmery too. But I assume the point of that move _isn't_ to fool the Hollow, as the six shadow clones (come on, obviously they're shadow clones from Naruto) immediately dash toward the Hollow and begin attacking far more aggressively than before. Crescent waves of turquoise slicing energies are flying everywhere again, possibly even more than last time, and for a moment it's hard to even _see_ the Hollow. Surely enough, the Hollow is slowly being pushed back.

"Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel," Rina starts to chant, as her clones are temporarily taking the Hollow's attention off of her.

With a cricket-like cry, the Hollow stabs its blade forward, and pierces the abdomen of one of Rina's clones. But no blood comes out. Instead, the clone _explodes_, releasing a slew of bluish green jets that look like a miniature meteor shower. They appear to be similar to the crescent sword wave attack, adding even more scratch marks to the Hollow's armor. With another shriek, the Hollow swings its long blade in a savage horizontal swipe, cutting another one of Rina's clones in half at the waist. The second clone also explodes, bombarding the Hollow with piercing jets of starlight.

"With light," Rina continues her chant, "divide this into six! Binding #61: Sixfold Prison!"

[_A/N: "Binding #61: Sixfold Prison" corresponds to "Bakudou #61: Rikujoukourou" in canon._]

I almost _feel_, rather than see, an invisible wave of energy expand forth from her hand and envelop the Hollow. An instant later, six long, rectangular strips of yellow energy materialize around the Hollow, and crash together into its waist, locking into one another in a roughly pinwheel-like shape. If I squint hard enough, I can just about see strands of energy snaking along the surface of the Hollow's body, paralyzing all of its movements.

The four remaining clones of Rina dash toward the real one, dissolving into turquoise light along the way, and meld into her body. For a moment, her whole body glows, but the radiance is quickly focused into the blade of her katana. With a burst of blazing speed, Rina zooms toward the paralyzed Hollow, sword extended and obviously intending to impale the creature in one blow.

The sword sinks only a few centimeters into the skin under the Hollow's masked chin.

Even with what looks like her full power, even with the Hollow restrained, even with the target area being a joint where the Hollow's armor is no doubt the weakest… Rina is still not able to inflict any significant damage.

She falls to her knees. Even when using her katana as a crutch, she looks like she can barely stop herself from collapsing altogether.

"I… I can't win this fight," she says. Her voice is shaking. "I thought I could, James… And I t-tried… But… I'm just n-not s-strong enough…"

The Hollow is quivering, its body contorted in effort. Small cracks begin to appear on the columns of energy holding it in place.

"T-Then…" My voice is shaking too. "C-Can't we… r-run…?"

"No…" It almost literally hurts me to see the despair on her face. "The A-Adjuchas would just s-sense your spirit pressure and…"

The reality of the situation begins to sink in, permeating me with an icy dread that's somehow worse than the terror the Hollow instills. All of this is _my_ fault… Not only am I a dead weight in this fight, I'm also literally being the lure that draws the Hollow to us… "H-How about r-reinforcements…? Can't you c-call…"

"No!" She immediately cries out. "P-Personal relationships with humans are f-forbidden… If they f-find out about you, I…"

"Then m-maybe I can…" I try desperately to think of something, _anything_, to make the situation not any more horrible than it already is. "Maybe I can find somewhere to h-hide…? Then t-they might not realize that I'm w-with you, and…"

"N-No… I d-don't want to r-risk it…" Her tears are starting to fall now. "I _c-can't_…! If t-they find out… T-They'll t-take me away from you and… And… And I'll n-never be able to s-see you again! I… _can't_ let that h-happen…"

She looks so fragile right now. If not for her armor, and the sword in her hands, I'd have already forgotten that she's a monster-slaying Soul Reaper.

I want to curse the laws of Soul Society that force her into a dilemma like this. But… A cold, logical part of me realizes the probable reason for such a law being in place. It's likely that they have such laws to prevent exactly the kind of situation like I'm in from taking place… To prevent powerless humans like me from being dragged into conflicts between Soul Reapers and Hollows. While there's no way I'll ever be able to blame her for it, Rina chose to ignore the law for her selfish reasons, and…

Are we going to pay the price, right now?

But… Maybe the price doesn't have to be as great as it could be.

"I… I could kill myself right now, Rina," I hear myself say. "Then… You could send me to Soul Society, and escape to Soul Society yourself, and-"

"No!" Her response is instantaneous and adamant. "Absolutely not! I c-can't make you throw away your h-human life like t-that…" The look in her eyes tells me that there is absolutely no way I can get her to agree to this.

"I… I'm sorry," I say. "But… What else can we…"

"There… is another way," Rina whispers. She sounds so weak that at any moment, I'm afraid that she's going to collapse and lose consciousness. "It's i-illegal, but…"

"That doesn't matter!" I say without a second thought. "If there's a way we can get out of this alive, _any_ way, I…"

Rina smiles. It's a weak smile, one that she's struggling to even make, but I can see the sliver of hope contained in the expression. "D-Do you trust me, James…?"

"I do! With my life!" The words come out of my mouth without the slightest hesitation.

"I'm glad…" Her smile becomes a bit wider, more relieved. "P-Please listen carefully, J-James…"

I give her my utmost attention.

"I'm going to g-give you half of my S-Soul Reaper powers…" She whispers. "With t-that, it'll temporarily turn you into a Soul Reaper… So you can f-fight…"

"Wait…" I frown. "If your power isn't enough to beat that thing, how is giving half of it to me going to help…?"

This time, her smile shows a sliver of _confidence_. "But it's not just half of my power… _You_ have spiritual p-power of your own, remember…?"

I do remember. The memory flashes in my mind, of Rina explaining to me that I can see ghosts because of the much higher than average amounts of spirit energy I possess.

"N-Normally, you can't _use_ your own power, because you're just a h-human… But if you're a Soul R-Reaper…"

"I… I understand," I say. For a second doubt and fear flicker across my mind, questioning if I really want to be caught up more deeply than I already am in this dangerous and terrifying new world. But I forcefully push that all aside. "Make me a Soul Reaper, Rina. If that's what it takes to save you…"

"A warning, though…" She manages a wry smile despite the situation. "The t-transfer needs me to s-stab you in the heart…"

I gulp. "T-Thanks for telling me. Come on, l-let's get it over with…"

"Okay…"

With my support, Rina holds up her katana, its tip pointing toward my heart. My furiously beating heart.

"R-Ready…?"

The Hollow lets out a shriek. The binding keeping it from attacking us is cracking more and more. There's no time to waste. "Y-Yes!"

"Alright… Here g-goes…"

The blade pierces my heart.

Except there's no pain. Instead, there is only _power_.

I feel Rina's power rushing into me, cool and soothing yet fierce and deadly. But at the same time, I feel a power well up from _within_ me, even greater than that which Rina is sending into me. It devours Rina's power, and expands, filling every part of my being until it overflows, and surging back through Rina's blade into _Rina herself_.

For a moment, the whole world turns purple and black. Then turquoise and white, the colors of Rina's power.

When the colors fade away, I see the black armor with white outlines covering my arms. And the nodachi in my hands.

I am… a Soul Reaper now.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note:**

Sorry that I had to add even more exposition to the chapter. I know that "show, don't tell" is a good thing, but the main character James's personality is such that he would naturally ask all sorts of questions about the supernatural. With a character like him, I can't exactly just avoid explaining a thing until James encounters said thing.

Yes, I'm changing the names of all the Kidou spells in this AU too. Since this AU has a Soul Society centered primarily around western culture, it would not make sense for the spell names to stay Japanese. And I can't just use the literal English meanings of the Japanese spell names either, since most of them just sound like English translations rather than names that an English-speaking culture would naturally come up with. So I'm trying to give each Kidou a new name that has at least somewhat similar meanings to the original, but also sounds like it could feasibly be, say, a spell in D&amp;D or something. I'll have to leave the incantations as they are, because there's no way I'll be able to come up with good incantations myself. If anyone can think of any better names for Kidou spells than the ones I came up with, please tell me; I'll be sure to credit you when using it.

Also, about all the anime references. In this universe, the manga Bleach obviously does not exist, as well as all the other media related to it, e.g. the anime, movies, and video games. Kubo Tite himself probably still exists, though he hasn't written Bleach in this universe. I dunno, maybe another one of his works got popular, like Zombiepowder or something. All other anime series should exist in this universe (e.g. Naruto, Accel World, Love Live, and all the other ones I've mentioned in the fic so far), though any crossovers they have with Bleach would not exist.

Lastly, the reason why I'm having Rina fight an Adjuchas is that, assuming that she's about as powerful as Rukia in in canon (and Rukia was powerful enough to defeat Aaroniero, the 9th Espada), there's no way a regular Hollow would pose any real danger to her. So I had an Adjuchas attack her instead. As for why an Adjuchas would randomly show up in the human world? All will be revealed in due time.


	4. Chapter 3: Battles

**Author's Note**:

EDIT ON NOVEMBER 18, 2015:

After talking with my friend and proofreader Hierophant, I've decided to revise some of the fighting scenes in this fanfic, to more readily reflect the conflicts that are the underlying causes of each fight. In most cases, I've added some more insight into the main character's thoughts, as the fights progressed.

In this chapter, the Adjuchas fight scene in the beginning and the morning right after that had been revised. You don't need to re-read any other sections.

**Chapter 3: Battles**

I've never felt so _powerful_ before in my life.

It's like I've been walking, living through a thick mud for my whole life, and I've only just found out. And now, I'm living in _air_. The whole world looks brighter, more intense, more _there_. Even though it's night, my eyes can see everything around me almost as clearly as though it's day; I can even pick out so much more finer details that I've simply missed before. Every movement feels fluid, natural, _effortless_. It feels like I can crush rocks with my bare hands, jump several meters into the air, and run entire kilometers without getting the slightest bit tired. And the blade in my hands… It feels so _right_ to be there, as though my body instinctively knows how to wield it with deadly effectiveness far beyond what I've dabbled in martial arts.

Is this… how Rina always feels, as a Soul Reaper?

"So this… Is this half of your power?" I look at Rina in amazement.

"No… It _isn't_!" Rina just looks confused. But somehow, she doesn't look tired anymore. And where did her wounds go? "I still have _all_ of my power!"

"…huh?" Now I'm confused too. Please tell me the conservation of energy is still a thing in the afterlife.

"I… I think my power just acted as some kind of catalyst," Rina says, now looking almost breathless. "Sure, it gave you Soul Reaper powers, like I wanted. But it also triggered all the power you've got sleeping within you, which overflowed… And I think it backflowed into _me_." Now she's the one looking at _me_ in something resembling awe.

"Uh… So we… basically swapped powers?" I'm still confused.

"Um, kind of?" She seems to think for a bit. "My wounds are healed too, and I don't feel tired anymore. I think you've got at _least_ as much power as-"

With a final shriek, the Hollow finally shatters the six rods of yellow light binding it in place.

"So… Our side is twice as powerful now." I find myself starting to grin.

"Pretty much." Rina's grinning too.

"Awesome."

The Hollow lunges at us again, propelling itself with its grasshopper legs. But this time, we're ready.

The Hollow's long arm blade lashes out, but my own blade rises up to meet it, the motion feeling as natural as though I've done it countless times before. The force as the blades clash immediately brings me out of the power rush and back into reality, as I realize that the Hollow is still very much a serious threat. But my newfound confidence is still there. Now that I feel the spirit energy coursing through my veins, the Hollow's spirit pressure doesn't feel nearly as terrifying anymore. With an instinctive battle cry, I grip my nodachi with both hands and bring it down upon the side of the Hollow's body. I feel the tremor along my arms, and hear the sound of chitin cracking, as a very visible fissure is created in the Hollow's armor. It's far deeper than any of the scratch marks Rina has made.

Damn, that felt great. I can get used to this.

Unfortunately, while it looks like my sword is stronger than Rina's, it's also slower. As I make a second attack against the Hollow, I'm not fast enough to bring the nodachi around to intercept the Hollow's own attack. But fortunately, I remember that one discussion Rina and I had about spirit pressure and the "Aegis" ability. It certainly doesn't sound questionable anymore as my body, again instinctively, concentrates its spirit pressure into an extremely dense layer of force in the area that's being struck.

Ouch.

Okay, that definitely still hurts, a lot. But no, I'm not bleeding. My armor isn't even broken, despite the small crack it now has at the area struck by the Hollow's sword. Good. So I suppose I'm a tank then, in video game terms; slower but much more durable than Rina. At this rate, I can probably afford to just trade some blows with the Hollow then, hitting it while allowing it to hit me and just withstand its attacks.

Though Rina seems to think otherwise. "James! Get back!" She shouts.

"Huh?" I momentarily turn my head toward her, only to get chopped on the shoulder by the Hollow. Ow. Luckily, my Aegis thing still holds it off just fine. But I trust Rina and her combat experience, so I obediently jump back.

"You can't keep that up forever!" Rina says urgently. "Don't let the power get to your head! You might feel strong now, but the Adjuchas still has more energy than either of us!"

Well, so much for that. Guess I can't really be invincible after all. "Then what do I do?" I ask as I parry an aggressive diagonal slash from the Hollow. Damn, the thing is strong; the blow is making my hand a little numb despite my increased power.

A couple of illusory clones of Rina pop into existence beside her with bursts of white light. As nimbly as though they're weightless, they dart toward the Hollow and begin harassing it with lightning-quick sword strikes and energy waves, taking its attention off me for now. "See my sword wave attack?" The real Rina says. "Use that!"

"Can I even do that?" I frown.

"Your power's borrowed from me, so yeah." Now that I have a moment to look at my sword more carefully, the nodachi does look very similar to Rina's katana. The blade is still a clear white, surrounded by nebulous lights of blue and green. Though the patterns are somewhat different, looking rougher and more jagged than Rina's. "You should have mostly the same abilities as me."

"Okay, uh…" I still don't feel very reassured. "_How_ exactly do I do that?"

With a _whoosh_ sound like the wind, one of Rina's clones explodes into a barrage of energy bolts as it's destroyed by the Hollow. "First, focus your energy into the sword!" She's sounding urgent again.

"Uh… Again, how?"

"Use your imagination!"

"Easier said than done!" I say exasperatedly.

Another _whoosh_, and Rina's second clone goes down. The Hollow's armor looks really beaten up right now, practically covered in scratch marks, but that's not stopping it from immediately lunging at us again. This time, Rina parries it. "No, seriously!" She shouts at me as she begins exchanging blows with the Hollow. "Just give it a try!"

"Ugh… Fine!" To be fair, I can already sort of "feel" the spirit energy coursing through me, sort of like streams of cool, refreshing sensations. When I try to imagine the energy flowing through my arms and gathering into my sword, it comes to me with surprising ease. The sword's glow becomes far brighter than usual, and I can feel it practically thrumming with power. "Now what?"

"Use both hands! Raise it high above your head!" Rina shouts. She's once again using bursts of super speed to disappear and reappear all over the place, dodging the Hollow's attacks while giving me instructions.

I bring the blade up above my head as instructed. "Okay! And?"

"Bring it down, release the energy, and shout 'Kaze no Kizu'!"

"…what?!" I give her an incredulous look. Or, rather, give a look at the position she's been an instant ago. "That's from Inuyasha!"

"Just do it!"

"…Enuma Elish!" I shout, while glaring at the general direction of Rina and the Hollow. At the same time, I bring down the nodachi with both hands, while _willing_ the energy contained within to come rushing out.

A massive wave of blue and green energy surges forth from my blade and roars toward the Hollow. As it strikes, it creates a sound that would've felt almost deafening had I not become a superpowered Soul Reaper with an extra-tough body, presumably ears included. The sound is not all that pleasant, vaguely resembling bone being grinded apart by multiple sawblades at the same time, mixed with the sound of bone _burning_. When the smoke and dust clears, a deep fissure has been cleaved into the Hollow's armor, running across its left arm that it hastily used to block the attack at the last instant and down its torso, abdomen, and leg. For the first time, we can see the Hollow bleed, the droplets of red liquid on the ground eerily human-like.

…_whoa_.

Now _that_ is what I'm taking about. Sure, I'm not as invincible as I feel. But I can still be pretty awesome at least _sometimes_, right?

"…wow," Rina breathes, her eyes wide.

"So," I say nonchalantly. "My sword's bigger, huh?"

"That's… not exactly how the attack's supposed to be used," Rina murmurs. She's still staring at the aftermath of the sword wave.

"But at least it works?" I ask hopefully.

"…you should've shouted 'Kaze no Kizu'."

"I bet I didn't even need to shout _anything_! _You_ never did!"

Sadly, talking is not a free action. Now that we've managed to actually hurt the Hollow, it looks _angry_. It lets out a horribly ear-grating screech, and there is once again a sphere of crimson energy gathering in its mouth. This time, I can even more clearly feel the sheer amount of destructive power focused in the little orb of light.

"_James!_" Rina shouts in alarm.

Well. I don't suppose Rina can teach me her super speed thing during the time it takes for the Hollow's cone of death to hit me, can she. And if I just try to run out of the way without super speed, will I be even remotely close to making it? Hell if I know precisely how wide the cone is. And goddammit, I'm hesitating and wasting time, so I'm probably already too late and-

Fuck it. You know what they say? YOLO!

It feels like being struck by an icy thunderbolt as I gather up every bit of willpower I'm able to muster, augmented by the adrenaline rush, and _force_ as much spirit energy in myself to rush into the blade as quickly possible. "_FUUUUUS RO DAAAAAAAH!_" My mouth shouts out the first tangentially related phrase that comes to mind. Once again, I swing the nodachi downwards, and let the energy loose.

Almost everything I can see in front of me is engulfed by a chilling yet gorgeous clash between red and blue-green, as the turquoise energy from my sword cuts into the Hollow's cone of crimson power. For a few moments, it looks like I'm actually pushing the Hollow back.

But then my sword beam runs out of power, and disappears. The next instant, my senses are consumed by red.

_Pain_.

…"YOLO" sure doesn't sound nearly as appealing when the consequences are coming back to bite you in the ass, in literally the most painful way possible.

…well, I'm apparently healthy enough to be complaining about this. So I'm not dead, at least.

But it still feels like I've had a ton of burning oil dumped on me. Even though there's no heat, it still burns, everywhere. I briefly wonder if I've become disfigured by all that abuse. On top of that, there's a vague feeling of soreness throughout my body that's sort of there and not there at the same time. Is that from straining myself with the sword attack? Shit. Once again, I'm reminded that this supernatural stuff isn't all fun and games. I may be powerful enough to survive now, but the dangers are definitely still there.

"Binding #4: Crawling Rope!" I hear Rina shout. A rope of yellow energy erupts from Rina's outstretched hands toward the Hollow, wrapping itself around the creature with incredible speed. Okay, so I can still see and hear fine… That's good. "Binding #9: Glyphstrike!" Not stopping for a moment, Rina deftly draws a symbol of red light in the air, and sends the symbol flying toward the Hollow. Upon contact, the symbol expands to cover the Hollow's whole body with a faint red sheen, seemingly stopping its movements altogether.

[_T/N: "Binding #4: Crawling Rope" corresponds to "Bakudou #4: Hainawa", and "Binding #9: Glyphstrike" corresponds to "Bakudou #9: Geki"._]

"R-Rina…" I struggle a bit to stand up, looking at her. She looks mostly unharmed. "A-Are you… all right…?"

"Yeah, I am," she says. Phew… She must've dodged the Hollow's cone of death. But the expression on her face looks less than happy. "Worry about yourself first!" With a blink of super speed, she appears beside me, and holds out her hands. A wave of pale green energy washes over me, instantly sweeping away all the pain and fatigue. "That could've been really dangerous!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not as fast as you," I mutter.

Her eyes widen a little as realization dawns on her. "Sorry, I didn't realize…" She looks away.

"No, it's okay," I say, and take hold of her hands. "I don't have your super speed, but I must have that Aegis thing you mentioned before. You dodge everything, but I think I can take a few hits. Me tank, you DPS."

She smiles a little at that. "I guess that's one way of looking at things."

"Also, what's with all the random superpowers you keep pulling out of nowhere? You didn't say your Soulslayer has-"

"Demoncraft," she says quickly, as we both see the Hollow break out of its binding, much more quickly than last time; the yellow rope and red sheen both shatter and fade into motes of light. "Basically magic spells. Speaking of that, can you distract the Hollow for a bit?"

"Sure!" I don't know what she's planning, but I don't have the leisure of asking for too many explanations in the middle of battle. Besides, even though I now know that the situation is still as dangerous as ever, I easily trust Rina with my life. Instead of waiting for the Hollow to attack again, this time I run toward it and go on the offensive, gathering energy into my sword at the same time. As we clash blades, I release the energy, engulfing the Hollow in a burst of bluish green. After executing the attack, I immediately dash to the Hollow's left, avoiding its weapon and getting out of the way in case it decides to use its cone of red light again. The Hollow swings at me, but I've made sure the angling is awkward for it; I'm able to bat away the blade with ease. As I do so, I see the small crack on the Hollow's weapon, done by my attack moments ago, and allow myself a small smile.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man!" I can hear Rina beginning to chant, somewhere behind me, and feel the steady buildup of power as she pronounces each syllable.

The Hollow's noticed it too. Letting out a hiss, the monstrous creature crouches and bends its grasshopper-like legs, in preparation for a deadly lunge toward Rina to interrupt whatever new magic spell she's preparing. But I won't let it. I step in front of it, using my own body as a shield, willing spirit energy to flow into my Aegis, like how I channel energy into the sword beam attack. The Hollow's legs unbend, launching it forward, but I bring my nodachi down on its right shoulder, using the Hollow's own forward momentum pushing against the blade to let the blade cut deeper. Said momentum still pushes against me, feeling strong as a truck, but I yell out an incoherent cry and use all the strength I have to stand my ground.

"On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus!" Rina continues her chant. It feels way too long, especially since I have to hold off a horrible monster as she does said chant.

The Hollow brings its arm blade swinging horizontally back at me, even though my sword is currently lodged in its shoulder joint. Because of that, I can't use the sword to parry in time. But also because of that, the Hollow's shoulder is weakened, forcing it to strike with much less force. The pain as the Hollow's weapon clashes against my Aegis is no doubt far less than the pain the Hollow must be feeling now.

But this is still not a good position to be in; I'm not willing to find out if the Aegis on my neck is strong enough to stand against the Hollow's attack. I quickly try to pull my sword free and-

The Hollow grabs me with its left hand.

Shit. With that huge sword on its right arm, I've forgotten that it even _has_ a left hand. And now the Hollow is holding me in some kind of cruel mockery of a hug. It opens its mouth, and another ball of red light begins forming.

"In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens!"

Fuck. Whatever Rina is charging up, I'm pretty sure I don't want to get hit by it _and_ the Hollow's deadly blast of death _at the same time_.

"James! Get out of the way!" And I'm pretty sure that's not a part of the spell incantation.

"Fine! _KAZE NO KIZU!_" I shout, redirecting the energy in my Aegis to my sword, and let it loose.

"Destruction #73: Double Firefall!"

[_T/N: "Destruction #73: Double Firefall" corresponds to "Hadou #73: Souren Soukatsui"._]

A few things seem to happen in rapid succession.

Turquoise energy explodes from my sword. It's at point-blank range, and the sword's already buried in the Hollow's flesh. The crescent-shaped wave cuts off the Hollow's bladed arm right at the shoulder, finally letting me escape from its deadly hug and dart to the left, out of the way of its huge cone of red light.

The Hollow fires said huge cone of red light.

And Rina fires her _humongous_ blast of sky-blue flames.

Damn. Hers is bigger this time.

…and I suppose any ejaculation jokes are completely inappropriate here. Welp.

The Hollow's cone of red light is completely swallowed by Rina's giant torrent of fire. And while the energy in the Hollow's attack isn't hot, Rina's definitely _is_. I can feel the intense heat from several meter away, and is that _lava_ I see on the ground? Hot damn, pun intended. The blue fire proceeds to swallow the Hollow itself. I think I hear sizzling. Nothing can survive that, right?

…fuck. I shouldn't have even formed that sentence in my mind. As good ol' TV Tropes can tell you, saying "no one can survive that" will absolutely _guarantee_ said person's survival. Now I've just totally jinxed it. Stupid brain.

Aaaaaaand of course, the Hollow survives. Almost its whole body now looks charred and blackened, and I can smell the highly pleasant and soothing aroma of burnt flesh. But it's still standing. What the hell does it take to kill this thing?! Is it really _that_ much out of our league?

Cutting off its goddamned head would do the job, I bet. I'm certainly not going to give it time to recover. Before the Hollow can regain its bearings, I push aside my doubts and dash toward it, sword raised in both hands. Can't waste time charging up another sword wave attack; I have to make this _count_. For an instant, I glimpse an eyeball-sized chunk of blue crystal or something embedded in the back of the Hollow's neck. The edge of my nodachi cuts into the crystal, shattering it, then cuts into the Hollow's armor and… stops.

No. Damn it. A normal sword attack just isn't strong enough, huh…?

Suddenly, the Hollow's eyes change colors, turning from a chilling, otherworldly blue to the same crimson as its cone-shaped blasts of destructive energy. Shit, don't tell me the thing's just getting _stronger_?!

"_Where… Where am I…?_"

A hissing, buzzing, hideously distorted male voice. I'm pretty sure that's not Rina talking.

"_Is this… the human world?_"

The sound is coming from the Hollow's mouth. That thing… Apparently it can talk?!

The creature looks at me with its now-red eyes. I flinch, expecting an attack to come. But it doesn't.

"_Soul Reapers… I want no business with you, or humans. Don't follow me if you know what's good for you._"

Before Rina or I can say anything, the Hollow reaches out with its still mostly intact left arm, and makes a grasping motion at seemingly thin air. The air then proceeds to be pulled back as though it's some kind of curtain, revealing a misty, bottomless blackness underneath. Without another word, the Hollow walks into the darkness; the black void then closes itself and disappears without a trace.

"Uh…" I'm not quite sure what to say. So I just look at Rina.

"I have no idea what's going on either," she says, looking just as confused as I am.

"Its eyes changed colors," I say a little absently, replaying the scene in my mind. "After I broke a blue crystal thing embedded in the back of its neck. Its behavior changed after that. Do you…"

"No, I haven't seen or heard anything like that," Rina says, and frowns. Then she lets out a big sigh. "Whatever it is… Let's not worry about it for now. Adjuchases like that rarely leave the world of Hollows, and it doesn't sound like that one wants to come back anytime soon. So…"

"So… GG?"

She lets out a laugh. "Hehe… I guess. I haven't had a fight this intense in, like, ever."

"I gotta say, that was pretty awesome." Dangerous and painful, yes, but still awesome. And we even survived! "So I got my awesome Soul Reaper superpowers a few decades early?"

"It's temporary, though," Rina says with reluctance. "It'll fade away after a while."

"…damn it," I sigh. "Any ways for me to, I dunno, keep this power?"

"You… probably shouldn't." Rina looks at me, and I can see fear and uncertainty in her eyes. "I said before I gave you the powers… This is illegal. I just hope it'll disappear before anyone from Soul Society finds out…"

Ugh. I really don't like her having that look. Superpowers are nice, but there's no way I'll keep them if it means putting Rina at risk. I take hold of her hand. "Sure, I understand… I'll instead just become a Soul Reaper the proper way when the times comes, alright?"

"Alright," she smiles.

"So…" I say after a moment. "How do I turn back to a human?"

"Oh!" Rina looks like she's finally remembered something. "Your body!" She points to somewhere behind us.

My jaw drops when I see a double of myself lying motionless on the ground, wearing the clothes I was wearing before I became a Soul Reaper. "W-What…"

"Don't worry! You're not dead!" Rina says helpfully.

"…uh." I'm not quite sure what to say or do.

Apparently I'm once again making a funny face, because Rina's expression breaks into a grin. "I guess I forgot to tell you… Soul Reapers are spiritual beings, so you get ejected from your body if you become one."

"So… That means I can return to my body, right…?" I'm still feeling uneasy about this.

"Sure! You just hold up your arms, go like 'ooooooOOOOooooo… I have retuuuuurned from the deeeeeeead…', and-"

"You're just messing with me again," I give her a stare. Then I just walk over to my body, sit down, and allow myself to drop into it.

There's a moment of slight disorientation as I feel things sort of snap into place. After it's done, I don't really feel any different… Though the rush of spiritual power through my body is now much more muted. I look at my arms, to see that I'm once again wearing the normal human clothes I wore earlier.

As I stand up, Rina proceeds to take out the little thumbnail-sized black ball that is the compressed form of her homunculus, and… pop it into her mouth, like some kind of pill. An explosion of smoke later, she too is once again wearing human clothes.

…I'm not even going to ask any more questions at the moment. "Let's… just go home, okay? I'm feeling tired…"

"Okay…"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

I expected to be sore all over when I wake up next morning, like what would normally happen after the intense physical exertions during the battle yesterday (no, not _that_ kind of physical exertions). But instead, I wake up feeling better than ever. I feel completely energized, in fact, not groggy in the slightest.

"Good morning…" Rina whispers, her voice soft as silk, as she opens her eyes beside me and gives me a warm, dreamy smile.

"Morning," I reply. This all feels… normal. "Uh… Last night wasn't a dream, right?"

"Oh…? What kind of wild and kinky sex did you dream of last night?" The corners of her mouth curl up in a little smirk.

"T-That's not what I mean!" I sputter, feeling myself turning red. Geez, and she admonishes _me_ for making sex jokes… "I mean the s-superpowers! I really did get them, right? I became a Soul Reaper?"

"Mhm… You were so _big_… And so _strong_…"

"S-Seriously! Are you still asleep or s-something?!" I cough.

"But it was _true_! Ehehehehe…" She leans into my chest. Her face stays whimsical for a second, then becomes genuinely relaxed and content. "Thank you, James… If not for you, I don't know if I would've made it yesterday…"

I put my arms gently around her. The world of ghosts may be a lot more dangerous than I thought, but I'd gladly embrace all of it, if Rina is here with me. "No problem… You know I'll do anything for you."

"I love you…"

"I love you too… Rina. More than anything else in the world…"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"So… How do I go back to being a Soul Reaper again?" I ask after we've finished breakfast.

"Use your imagination!" Rina says cheerfully.

"Again?" I give her a look. "Well, since it worked fine last time…" I try to mentally take hold of the spirit energy that I can now feel flowing within me, imagining it breaking free of my physical body. But… My control still feels much more muted than when I wasn't in my body. After a few minutes of trying in vain, I shake my head. "Nope, doesn't work."

"Hmm…" She frowns, scratching her head. "How about this. Try materializing your Soulslayer."

"Let me guess. I'm also supposed to use my imagination for that?"

"Yup!"

"Whatever you say…" I try to gather energy into my hands, like what I did yesterday for the sword beam attacks. But without the actual sword as an outlet, it just gets congested in my hands. It starts feeling pretty unpleasant after a few seconds, as though my hands are being frozen and electrocuted at the same time. "Uh… It won't come out."

"Sex joke."

I glower at her.

She gives me an innocent look.

"Okay, fine, I did that first," I admit. "But seriously. My hands are starting to hurt, and I can't conjure the sword like you apparently can." I let go of the energy and let it recede back into my body; this is going nowhere. "How long did it take _you_ to learn that, anyways?"

"Um… A few days of practice?"

"…then there's no way I can figure it out in a few minutes!"

"Hmm…" She seems to think for a bit. "How about this?" She reaches into her bag, rummages for a moment, then pulls out a red fingerless glove with a white skull emblazoned on the back.

"What's that?" I eye the glove with some suspicion.

"A glove!"

"…I noticed."

"Just put it on!" She now has this mischievous grin on her face that makes me feel excited and alarmed at the same time.

"Okay…?" I pick up the glove gingerly. It doesn't explode, or zap me with electricity, or transform into some horrifyingly absurd thing from Rina's darkest nightmares. Still gingerly, I put the glove on. It still doesn't do anything weird. But I'm still not convinced.

"Now bop yourself on the head!"

"Huh?"

"You know, like the Soul Burial!"

"Uh huh…" Very slowly and carefully, as if the glove will suddenly come to life and bite me, I touch my forehead with the gloved hand.

It feels like the whole world is falling away from me. Or is that me being ejected from something? At the same time, it feels like a sack of heavy clothes are falling off my body. Then the rush of power comes back, less intense this time only because I'm not completely new to it anymore. After a disorienting couple of seconds, I can see my arms covered in armor again, and feel the nodachi strapped to my back.

And my body is now slumped back on the bed, motionless.

"…whoa."

"Yay! It worked!" Rina says gleefully. She then leans over my motionless body and begins poking it in the face.

"Hey! Don't do that while I'm defenseless!"

"Aww…" She pouts. Then she appears to concentrate for an instant. A puff of bluish green light later, her body too is now lying motionless on the bed. And she's again wearing her too-sexy Soul Reaper outfit. "Here, you can do it to my body too! Or…" Her grin becomes devious. "Or would you like to do more than just poking, hmm?"

"H-Hey, I wouldn't do that!" I cough, and try not to stare at anywhere inappropriate.

"Oh? So you prefer me conscious and moving when we do the deed, huh?"

I try to think of a retort, but what she's saying is _true_. "O-Obviously…"

"Ehehehehehehe…"

…she's way too cute when she laughs like that.

I shake my head and take a look at our bodies. Mine is breathing slowly and steadily, eyes closed, as though it's just asleep. Rina's body, however, is completely still, even though the skin still feels warm and alive.

"So I assume that my body is still, you know… alive?" I put a hand on the chest of my body. Its heartbeat and the heartbeat I feel in my current, uh, ghost body are already out of sync, the physical one beating a little more slowly.

"Yeah," she nods. "It's physically in a coma, though."

"Huh," I blink. "Is that what happens to people in vegetative states? Like, are they bodies without souls or something?"

"Um, actually, no. A person's soul is connected to his body through a Chain of Fate. If the chain is broken, the soul can't properly go back to his body and control it anymore, and the shock is enough to shut down the body's brain."

I frown. "Is _that_ what those chain things are?" I remember seeing the dangling chains seemingly attached to the chests of every normal human ghost I've seen. The ghosts didn't know what the chains are, so I eventually stopped wondering about them.

"Yeah. And… If a ghost's Chain of Fate completely erodes away…" She's beginning to look uncomfortable, squirming a little as she sits. "The ghost succumbs to negative emotions and becomes a Hollow."

A chilling realization hits me. A Hollow's hole on its chest… It's where a normal ghost's Chain of Fate would be.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay once the Hollow is purified by a Soul Reaper…" Rina takes hold of my hand and squeezes. But it sounds like she's trying to reassure herself even more than me.

"So… Do _I_ still have a Chain of Fate?" I ask after a moment. "Because I don't see one."

"Um… I don't _think_ you do?" The look on her face is like when she's trying to tackle a particularly hard math problem. "I mean, Soul Reapers don't have Chains of Fate… And your soul got turned into a Soul Reaper, instead of having its Chain of Fate _severed_, so I don't think your body experienced the shock that would've otherwise killed it… Transferring Soul Reaper powers is illegal, you know. Not like I can find out much about it."

"Huh…" I digest the information for a moment. "I assume I shouldn't stay out of the body for too long, since it's pretty much comatose when I'm away."

"Yeah, definitely."

"So… I feel like now is the point where you tell me more about Soul Reaper powers," I say, and look at Rina in the eyes.

"Wanna know more about the cool stuff, huh?" She smiles. "Okay. Soul Reaper powers are divided into four main categories: Armsmanship, Celerity, Demoncraft, and Martial Forms. The names are pretty much self-explanatory."

"What about that Aegis thing?" I look at my hands, and briefly focus. The faint shimmering of light and air between my fingers is enough to show the layer of hardened spirit pressure protecting me.

"Oh, that's just a part of the Martial Forms. It focuses on unarmed combat and using spirit pressure to strengthen your body, so the Aegis is just a part of that." She gives me a slightly pouty look. "Your Aegis is so strong, though! Even though nobody taught you… I'm kind of jealous."

"Hey, come on, you've got super speed and those crazy awesome spells. And you can heal. _And_ you're really good at swordsmanship. If anything, I'm kind of jealous of _you_."

"Ehehe…" She laughs, clearly pleased.

"Speaking of which. Any chance you can teach me the super speed and magic spells?"

"Hmm…" She thinks for a bit. "The super speed thing, Celeritas, took me a couple of _years_ to learn properly, and even that's apparently really fast by normal standards. As for Demoncraft… It's easily _the_ most complicated of the four groups of abilities. People say I'm pretty good, but it took me even longer to learn the spells I know now. So…" She looks apologetic and a little sad. "I… don't think I'm in any position to teach either of those."

"Eh, that's alright," I shrug. "How come I'm automatically so good at Aegis then?"

"I think that one's more instinctive. Like, it requires more brute force than fine control. Some people can just do it with no training at all, I heard."

"Geez, you make me sound like some kind of brainless thug or something."

"Oh, come one, we both know how smart you are!" She grins and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. "Spiritual power isn't correlated with intelligence anyways. You just have a lot of it, and don't know how to control it properly yet."

"And is that why you said the way I used your sword energy wave attack isn't how it's supposed to be used?" I ask, while mentally comparing her version of the attack with mine. Mine is huge and packs a ton of power, but each one takes at least a second or two to charge up. On the other hand, Rina's version is not as powerful, but intensely sharp and focused, and she can spam dozens of those at the same time.

"Yeah!" She sounds a little plaintive. "It's supposed to be an elegant technique, and you butchered it."

"You're just jealous that mine's bigger than yours."

"Hmph."

"But come on, you have to admit, a huge wave of energy coming out of a sword is awesome no matter what the situation is."

"…fine, so it is. But seriously, learning some control is good for you!"

"Let me worry about that after I become a Soul Reaper properly, alright?"

"Right…"

"Also." I stand up. "Do I still show up on mirrors? I wanna see what I look like as a Soul Reaper."

"Well, you'd definitely show up on mirrors made of spiritons. Non-spiritual mirrors? Uh… I haven't actually tried before. We don't have those in Soul Society, for obvious reasons."

I look at the bed and the floor. "We don't cast any shadows… I assume photons don't interact with spiritons even if we make ourselves solid?"

"Um, I guess?"

"…how do I even see things then? I mean, if the photons pass straight through my eyeballs…"

"Because of the spiritons in the air? Like, the spiritual equivalent of photons or something. I don't really know…" She pulls out a handheld mirror used for putting on makeup, out of her bag. "Here, use this. It's made of spiritons."

I hesitate a bit. "Uh… Becoming a Soul Reaper didn't make me uglier, did it…?"

"Don't worry, you look as dashing as ever!" She smiles brightly as she hands me the mirror.

Somewhat warily, I take a glance at the mirror. Messy brown hair, amber eyes, skin just barely on the better side of not too pale… Well, I look just about the same. I was wondering if turning into a Soul Reaper would give me crazy orange hair or something, but apparently not. I'm wearing what looks like some kind of medieval full plate armor, made of some unknown jet-black metal (the color doesn't look painted on), decorated with white borders and patterns. The armor appears bulky, but is actually surprisingly lightweight; I can barely feel it on me at all. My sword and sheathe look pretty much the same as Rina's, just longer. This whole getup actually looks pretty damn cool, though I'm not entirely sure if it meshes well with my face. I was never very confident in my appearance, despite how much Rina kept calling me a "total stud".

"See? You look awesome!" She deliberately swoons into my arms and gives me a dreamy look. "Ehehe… We'll be the best Soul Reaper couple ever…"

Rina's Hollow alarm chooses this moment to ruin by releasing an ear-grating noise. This one is slightly less godawful than the one yesterday, sounding only like shoving a metal bar through my ears as opposed to a red-hot metal bar covered in spikes. But it still makes me jump. "Gah! What the hell?!"

"Hollow," Rina says, instantly serious again. "Low-level this time. I can handle it fine."

"Wait," I say, taking hold of her hand. "Let me come with you."

"James…" Her face is guilty and a little pained. "You don't have to… I shouldn't have brought you into this, and…"

"But I _want_ to," I say, putting as much determination into my voice as I can, and look steadily into her eyes. "I don't want you to face danger alone… Please. Let me help. Let's do this _together_."

Her expression softens. "All right…" Then it becomes solemn again. "We need to hurry. There's no time to waste."

I nod.

Without wasting any more words, Rina turns toward the wall and… just walks through it. I hesitate for a moment, wondering if I can get the ghostly intangibility thing right. But… Like Rina said, there's no time to waste; the Hollow may attack at any moment. So I grit my teeth, try to imagine the sensation of my ghostly body falling into my physical body (and thus being intangible), run toward the wall, and brace for impact.

The good news is that I make it. It kind of feels like passing through some odd mixture of water and cotton.

The bad news is that my apartment is on the third floor.

"AAAAAA-" The scream begins to automatically emit itself from my throat. Then the adrenaline rush comes, and the falling starts to feel a little slower than usual. It gives me an instant or two to think. Ghosts can float, right? So why don't I-

It's like slamming into a wall of hard rubber. Well, it's not the fall that kills you…

"-AAAARGH!" The scream finishes when I realize that I'm standing several meters above the ground, on thin air.

"Don't worry! You're standing on a layer of hardened spiritons created by your mind!" I hear Rina shout. "Use your imagination!"

My mind spins. A few meters away, I can see Rina floating in midair just like I am. But if it's just a layer of spiritons created by my mind under my feet, what the hell is holding it up?! And-

Dammit, no time to worry about this now. I take a leap toward Rina, and imagine the layer of invisible but solid substance under my feet. And it works. Within seconds, she and I are running toward the site of the Hollow attack on thin air.

"Hey, couldn't we have done this during yesterday's fight?" Even as I run as fast as possible, talking doesn't feel difficult, presumably due to Soul Reaper powers.

"It wouldn't have helped. The Adjuchas could do it too," Rina says. Then she stops. "We're here."

In front of and below us, I see three… four… no, _five_ Hollows, surrounding the ghost of a young woman. They're all large, brutish creatures, and one of them is holding the ghost woman's entire body with one hand as if she weighs nothing.

"N-No… Zack… Stop…!" The woman is struggling to force the words out. I quickly see why: the Hollow holding her is tugging on the Chain of Fate protruding from her chest with its other hand.

But the Hollow doesn't stop.

What follows is the most horrifying, blood-curdling scream I've ever heard as the woman's Chain of Fate is pulled out of her. A hole breaks open in the location the chain once was, and out of it floods a liquid energy of ghastly, dead white that swallows her whole body. Screams continue to emanate from within the mass of glowing liquid as it writhes and squirms in sickening ways, until the whole mass contracts and solidifies into a tall, thin, only very vaguely female humanoid shape, resembling some twisted amalgamation of fish and harpy. The bleached bone mask on its face and the hole in its chest are enough to tell me what the woman has become.

I just float there and gape, too horrified to even feel like throwing up. That woman… She… She just…

"James!" I hear Rina shout. "It's okay! We can still purify her!"

Oh… That's right… We can still purify ghosts that have become Hollows… Everything is still okay…

"Boss, we've got company," one of the other Hollows says. It sounds like rusty gears grinding painfully against one another.

"Fuck! SSSSoul Reaperssss!" Another one spits. This one sounds like a bunch of snakes.

"Only two of 'em though…" A third one, sounding like the crackle of burning wood, says. "We can take 'em!"

"Keehee… They can be Mary's first meal!" The fourth says. "Whaddya say, M-"

Before the crow-like Hollow can even finish its sentence, it is sliced in half by a flash of turquoise light, right down the middle of its beak-like mask. Beside me, Rina's katana is pointing downwards, having already been swung, the white blade glinting in the sunlight.

"Robin!" The dead tree-like Hollow screeches. "You'll fuckin' pay for this, bitch!" It takes a mighty leap, flames bursting from its gnarled bark-like fists.

Its right fist meets the blade of my nodachi, and is split in two like traditional wood splitting. "Don't you _dare_ threaten her," I snarl. The Hollow hisses and punches me in the guts with its other arm, but it barely feels like anything at all. With another instinctual battle shout, I swing my sword diagonally, destroying the Hollow with a single mighty cleave.

When I glance at Rina, she's no longer there. Instead, she's a few meters further away, standing over the quickly dissolving corpses of the other two Hollows that have been sliced apart by her deadly energy.

"Who… Who are you…?" The newly born Hollow, formerly the ghost of a woman, whispers. Even at that volume it sounds shrill and barely human.

"Someone who wants to split us apart…" The Hollow leader says, its voice hoarse and parched. "Don't worry, Mary… I'll take care of them… She just took away my gang… But I won't let her take _you_ away…!"

With a shriek, the Hollow jumps. No… It's stepping on seemingly empty air, like us. There's a rushing of dry wind as it approaches. It raises an arm, and out of it comes a blast of scalding air roaring toward us. When I bear the brunt of the attack, Rina is no longer there, instead appearing behind the Hollow in a blink of speed.

Slice. Split. Fall.

"Huh? Zack…?" The final remaining Hollow, made from that woman, babbles. "What… What did you do to him…?"

"I'm sorry…" Rina murmurs. Her face is somber and resolute. "I hope you'll find each other in Soul Society…"

"_WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM…?!_"

The Hollow spreads its fin-like wings. Sharp talons curling, it dashes toward Rina, hands outstretched and reaching toward her throat.

"Destruction #4: White Thunder."

[_T/N: "Destruction #4: White Thunder" corresponds to "Hadou #4: Byakurai"._]

A blinding beam of bluish white lightning is shot from Rina's fingertips. In an instant, it pierces the center of the Hollow's forehead, before it even has a chance to scream.

This wasn't a battle. It was a massacre.

"Rina… I…"

"Do you… still want to help me, after what you've just seen?" I can practically feel the strain in her voice. "You… don't have to, James…"

With heavy footsteps, I walk on the air toward Rina. Even though the fight was hardly any exertion at all, I still feel exhausted, mentally and emotionally. But my mind is unchanged. "I… I said we'll do this together, Rina. We're… just doing what's necessary, right…?"

"Right…"

She takes hold of my hand, and gently squeezes. I squeeze back.

We're silent on the way back to my apartment. Neither of us want nor need to say anything, and just quietly take comfort in each other's presence. We don't say anything as we pass by Gunther, not even when the tall German appears to be looking directly at us.

I'll… need to get used to this, sooner or later. Some things just… have to be done.

I hope.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note:**

Armsmanship, Celerity, Demoncraft, and Martial Forms obviously correspond to Zanjutsu, Hohou, Kidou, and Hakuda in canon. I didn't call it "Bladesmanship" or something like that because in this universe, the Zanpakutou/Soulslayer does not necessarily have to take the form of a sword or bladed weapon; it could be a blunt weapon as well. These terms will be added to the glossary.

I know I haven't really explained why the Adjuchas randomly showed up in the human world, and only complicated things further. As I said, all will be revealed in due time.

The Hollows near the end of this chapter were taken down very easily because James and Rina both have the power levels of mid to high-ranking Soul Reapers. Like, 5th seat or above. Normal Hollows obviously aren't going to be much of a challenge for them. Don't worry, starting from the next chapter I'll quickly begin introducing opponents that can actually threaten them.


	5. Chapter 4: Challenge

**Author's Note**:

EDIT ON NOVEMBER 18, 2015:

After talking with my friend and proofreader Hierophant, I've decided to revise some of the fighting scenes in this fanfic, to more readily reflect the conflicts that are the underlying causes of each fight. In most cases, I've added some more insight into the main character's thoughts, as the fights progressed.

In this chapter, only the Gunther fight scene had been revised. You don't need to re-read any other sections.

**Chapter 4: Challenge**

"…so as you see, when _m_ is not equal to _n_, the whole integral collapses to zero," the math professor says, and scribbles a few more things onto the blackboard. "This shows that all the basis functions are orthogonal with each other. In fact, we can represent the results of this integral with the Kronecker delta-"

"What's the 'Kronecker delta'?" Rina asks.

I squirm a bit in my seat. It's kind of hard not to, with her hugging me so closely. Her chest is pressed against my back, her arms wrapped around my neck, and I can feel her warm breath and soft voice… She's only doing that because people can't see her. I swear, she _has_ to be enjoying this.

"It's a function of _n_ and _m_ that's equal to one when _n_ and _m_ are equal, and zero otherwise," I type in the Word processor on my laptop; it's not like I can talk to Rina out loud without having people think I'm crazy. "Also, you're distracting me."

"Come on, you _know_ you like this~!" Rina giggles, and intentionally rubs her breasts against my back some more.

I clear my throat, and try to make my blush not look too obvious to the other students around me. Well, at least she's doing a damn good job of keeping me awake. The math is interesting, but this professor's lecturing style is… less than engaging.

"_BLEEEEEEEEEEERP! BLEEEEEEEEEEEERP! BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERP!_"

"Gah!" I flinch violently and nearly falls off my seat.

Everyone in the room proceeds to give me a strange look. "You okay there?" The professor asks.

"Y-Yeah, I'm alright," I gasp out, trying to regain my composure. "S-Sorry." Of course, they can't hear the Hollow alarm's godawful blaring noise. So much for them not thinking I'm crazy.

Rina's face has already changed from playful to completely serious. "I'll handle this." She glances at the clock on my computer; this last class of today is almost over. "Meet you back at home?"

I nod.

"Okay, see you later." Her body glows with turquoise energy. A moment later, she jumps, passing straight through the ceiling, and is gone.

I sigh. Even though she's almost certainly strong enough to handle the average Hollow that shows up around here, I still can't help but to worry.

Oh, and Gunther is looking directly at the spot on the ceiling where Rina passed through a moment ago. Nope, that totally isn't disturbing or anything.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

The worry continues to gnaw at me as I walk home. I mean, sure, _logically_ there shouldn't really be anything to worry about. It's been a few days since I became a Soul Reaper, and every single Hollow we met was dispatched effortlessly; I don't think any of them even lasted more than two hits. But… There's still a whole lot about this new, big supernatural world that I don't know. What if an Adjuchas or whatever attacks Rina again? Can we really survive another fight like that?

I finally have her back with me after five years… The thought of losing her again terrifies me, more than any Hollow ever did.

The wave of spiritual pressure shakes me out of the reverie as it sweeps over me. I can feel it, the feeling of primal, mindless hunger in that energy… It's a Hollow. And it's getting close.

"Shit," I mutter under my breath. Frantically, I drop my bag on the ground, rip open the zipper, and tear into its contents, trying to find the glove that can push my soul out of my body and let me become a Soul Reaper. Goddammit, where _is_ that thing?! I never thought being a slob could potentially get me killed!

I can see the Hollow now. It looks like the deformed bastard child of a spider, an elephant, and a few pairs of scissors. In other words, several kinds of wrong. Its spindly legs look far too frail to support its bulk as it walks toward me, examining me with its eight eyes. Its scissor-like arms make a rather unpleasant snipping sound that sends a shiver down my spine.

Finally, my fingers feel the texture of the spirit glove buried deep in my bag. As I begin to pull it out, the Hollow hisses, and prepares to dash at me, and I brace myself for pain, and-

_Crack._

When I blink, an arrow made of glowing, sky-blue energy is now impaled through the center of the Hollow's forehead. The Hollow lets out a shriek of shock and agony, an instant before it begins to dissolve.

"Rina!" I shakily turn around. "Thank-"

Except it isn't Rina.

It's _Gunther_, holding what appears to be a bow made of blue energy in his right hand. It's clearly aimed at where the Hollow's head was a second ago.

My mouth hangs open for a bit.

"Really now, James," Gunther says in a patronizing enough tone that makes me kind of want to punch him. "If you're going to be a Soul Reaper, shouldn't you make sure your powers are easily accessible at the very least?"

My mind races for a bit. So, Gunther here can clearly see ghosts. And he evidently has a magic bow or something that he just killed a Hollow with. Then the few times Rina and I ran into Gunther before when he seemed to be looking directly at Rina, when she was invisible to normal people…

…so he saw Rina hugging me during lecture earlier. Well, this is somewhat embarrassing.

"Come on now, don't give me that look," Gunther continues to chide. "You thought I couldn't see you before? You and that other Soul Reaper. You're clearly not new to the spiritual world."

I stare at him, then at his bow, and back at him. Now that he's obviously using superpowers of some kind, I think I can sense his spirit pressure. It's very different from Rina's, or mine, or that of any Hollow we've encountered before. It's… subtle, almost blending into the spiritons in the atmosphere. No wonder we didn't sense it before, when he wasn't using his powers. "So I assume you aren't a Soul Reaper," I mutter.

"Did you think Soul Reapers are the only beings with spiritual power in this world?" Gunther scoffs. "But of course. You'd think that Soul Reaper has told you everything."

"Wait a minute," I frown. "What are you implying?"

"She'd only told you the things you 'needed' to know, right?" The corners of Gunther's lips curl upward in a bitter expression that doesn't resemble a smile at all. "After all, she probably only made you a Soul Reaper to make her own job easier. Why waste the potential when you see it, right?"

The shock in my mind is quickly turning into anger. "You'd better watch what you say, Gunther," I growl, fists clenched. "I've known Rina for years when she was alive. You haven't."

"Oh, but how do you know she hasn't changed during her years as a Soul Reaper?" He lets out a cold, humorless chuckle. "People change."

I've had enough. With a single swift motion, I pull the spirit glove onto my hand and tap myself on the forehead. My human body falls away, as though a heavy weight has been taken off me, and I'm in my Soul Reaper armor once more. The next moment, my nodachi is drawn, its tip pointed at Gunther. "Again, you'd better watch what you say. I won't repeat myself a third time."

"Heh, you want to fight me?" I can see a glint in Gunther's gray eyes, something I can't quite identify but makes me instinctively tense in alarm. "Good, because that's what I wanted in the first place!" For an instant, his spirit pressure flares; and another arrow of blue light materializes on his bow. "I challenge you to a duel, James Hawking."

Dammit. Angry as I am, I'm still far less experienced compared to Rina. Fighting him like this probably isn't a good idea. "What if I decline?" I ask, in as neutral a tone as I can manage, forcing the anger in my mind to back down.

_Thunk!_

My head snaps to the left, where the arrow of blue light is now half-buried in the ground. The arrow dissipates after a moment, leaving a narrow, deep hole and the faint smell of burnt asphalt.

"Then I attack you right here and now," says Gunther, with not a hint of emotion in his voice. "Wouldn't you rather be prepared for a fight than otherwise?"

I grit my teeth. "Why the hell are you doing this?! What _are_ you, anyways?!"

"I am a _Quincy_," Gunther says, clearly pronouncing every word, as though it is the most important fact in his life. "Power should only be wielded by those with strength of will. If you can't prove to me that you are ready to wield your power, James Hawking, I will take the power away from you."

"Wait, you can _do_ that?" I blink. "Like, just take my Soul Reaper powers away and make me a normal person again?"

"If you're too weak to prevent me from doing so," Gunther says with a thin smile.

That makes me pause. This power… Technically I'm not even supposed to have it at all. Rina said it's illegal too. So if I just let Gunther take the power away… Then I wouldn't risk getting caught and putting Rina in danger. Wouldn't that… actually be a good thing?

Hell no. If I'm going to lose my power, I'm definitely not going to lose it to _him_.

"Fine, I accept," I say. "When and where?"

"Tomorrow, five PM," Gunther says without missing a beat. "Meet me at this same location. I will find a place."

"All right," I nod. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go home and discuss this with Rina."

"Again, I'd advise you to not trust everything the Soul Reaper says."

A swing of my nodachi, and a burst of turquoise light is shot from the tip, drilling a hole into the ground beside Gunther's left foot. "And again, I'd advise _you_ to watch what you say."

"Hmph," Gunther scoffs. He then turns around and starts walking away without another word.

I briefly consider stabbing him in the back. Nah, that'd just start the fight right here and now. "_See you tomorrow,_" I instead say, in the most acerbic tone I can muster. And I begin walking away too.

…the hole I made was bigger than his. Ha. Suck on that, you jackass.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Welcome home!" Rina greets brightly as I enter my apartment. She's wearing an apron but, to the mild disappointment of a certain part of my brain (and other organs), isn't actually naked underneath said apron. Well.

"How was the Hollow?" I'm finding it hard to match her enthusiasm at the moment, given what Gunther said to me earlier.

"Oh, it was great!" She beams. "The Hollow I found actually managed to return to his human self before I purified him, and even thanked me when I sent him to Soul Society!" Her radiant smile becomes mischievous as she saunters toward me. "Now, would you like dinner? Or a bath? Or would you like…" She blushes as her words trail off. Hnnnnnnng.

…she's making me feel really, really bad for completely ruining the mood and bringing up a topic that I'm sure won't be pleasant for either of us. "Rina, we need to talk."

"Hmm? What is it?" There's an instant of disappointment, but her expression quickly changes to one of concern. Of course… No one can read me as well as she can.

"You remember Gunther?" I begin to say. "You know, from a bunch of my physics and math classes? Blond, tall, gigantic prick with no manners?"

"We ran into him that other day on the bus, right?"

"Yeah." For a moment I consider how to phrase this. "Well, turns out he has superpowers too."

The look of concern on Rina's face instantly becomes alarm. "What kind of superpowers?"

"Shoots arrows made of spirit energy," I say. "Or, at least, that's what I _think_ he does. He said he's a 'Quincy'."

Rina begins to frown. It's another one of those expressions that don't suit her at all.

"Oh, and he challenged me to a duel."

Her eyes widen. "What?!"

I try to sound casual about this, but the tone doesn't quite come out right. "He thinks I don't have enough willpower to handle supernatural powers or something, and apparently wants me to show him otherwise by fighting him. If I don't agree to the duel, he'll just attack me."

Her frown deepens. "What… What if you lose the duel…?"

"He'll take away my Soul Reaper powers, he said." Nope, I definitely don't sound casual in the slightest. "Can he really do that?"

"I…" I can now see an uncertainty in her eyes. A worry, doubt, fear. "I _think_ he can…? But…"

"Then…" What I'm about to say makes me very uneasy, as though I'm somehow betraying Rina's trust. "Me having those powers is illegal, right…? So should I just let Gunther…"

"No!" She reaches out and grips my hands, tightly. "You know _how_ he's going to remove your powers?"

"Uh, no." I blink. "I assume it's dangerous?"

"_Yes!_" She almost cries out the response. "If he does it wrong, it might _kill_ you!"

"Oh." I think for a moment. "But wouldn't that just send me to Soul So-"

"You don't _understand_, James!" Rina sounds almost panicked now. "Quincies… They aren't _like_ us Soul Reapers. If they kill a soul, the soul is gone _for good_!"

My eyes widen as her words sink in. "D-Does that mean… The Hollow that Gunther k-killed…"

And now I can see pain and sadness in her eyes too. It makes me absolutely hate myself for making her feel this way. "It's… a matter of ideology, James. Soul Reapers believe in redemption, but Quincies believe in _punishment_…"

I'm at a loss for words. This kind of thing… Can I really say which side is right and which side is wrong? "…is _that_ why Gunther didn't seem to like Soul Reapers a whole lot?" I ask, after a long moment of pause. "I mean, he kept telling me to not trust you and other bullshit like that…"

Rina suddenly becomes very still.

…fuck. Now I'm genuinely afraid. "R-Rina…?"

"No, James…" Her voice is barely more than a whisper. "Since Quincies destroyed Hollows completely, they threatened the balance of souls centuries ago, and… And…"

I'm not sure I want to her what she's about to say next.

"And so the Soul Reapers exterminated almost all of the Quincies back then…"

…

"James, I…"

Instinctively, almost as if my body's moving on its own, I put my arms around Rina and hold her close to me. "You weren't a part of that, were you…?"

"No, but…"

"Then it's okay," I say, firmly, looking directly into her eyes. "Every organization and group has made mistakes, done things they're not proud of. I… I can hardly expect anyone to be perfect. And… They only did it because they had to, right?"

"Y-Yeah… The Quincies were destabilizing the whole world, so the Soul Reapers had to…" She sounds feeble, as though she's trying to convince herself of her own words. "But… Does that really make it right to kill so many…?"

"I don't know, Rina…" I whisper. "Sometimes, there really is no right thing to do…"

"I g-guess…"

We silently hold on to each other for a long while.

"H-Hey…" I begin to ask, after we've moved to the dinner table. "Can _you_ remove my Soul Reaper powers, Rina?"

"Um… Yeah," she says, but is sounding uncertain again. "But I'd rather not do that…"

"Hmm? Why?" I look into her eyes. "I mean, sure, I don't exactly want to _lose_ the awesome superpowers. But if having them is illegal, and puts you at risk of getting caught…"

"When I gave you the Soul Reaper powers, I stabbed you here with my Soulslayer," Rina says, pointing at the center of my chest, where a normal ghost's Chain of Fate would be.

"Wait. Didn't you stab me in the heart?"

"Oh, um. That was actually more figurative than anything." She scratches her head, looking like she's trying to think of how to best explain something. "For a normal soul, a Chain of Fate is attached to the center of his chest. But for a Soul Reaper, the same location is a pressure point called the Chain of Binding. That's, like, the central point where spirit energy is regulated in a body, which is why I had to stab there to transfer my powers to you. The Chain of Binding functions kind of like a heart, and it's the 'heart' that Hollows lose, so that's why we call it the heart."

I spend a moment digesting this information. "So… If Hollows lost this Chain of Binding… How come they can still use their spirit energy then?"

"Er… 'Lose' is also kind of figurative."

I give her a mildly disapproving look.

"Hey, I didn't name these things."

"Okay, fine. But when I get in charge…"

"Hehe, I do look forward to that," she giggles a little. "Anyways. A Hollow's 'heart' actually gets turned into its mask. So that's why we always go for the mask first."

"Not for the inherent satisfaction of headshots?"

"You don't do headshots with a knife."

"Throwing knives?"

"Yeah, good luck throwing your big, heavy 'knife'," she gives me a wry smile. "Okay, so. Aside from the Chain of Binding, there's another pressure point called the Somnus Animae, or 'Soul Sleep', which is the source of a soul's spirit energy. If either of these two pressure points gets pierced by a particularly strong attack, it'd do significant damage to the soul's energy circulation and make him lose all powers."

"Oh." I blink a couple of times. "Ohhhhh. So to remove my Soul Reaper powers, you'd have to stab me."

"Yep. And this one would _hurt_. So…" I can see gentle concern in her eyes. "I'd rather have your powers fade away naturally, James… I really don't want to hurt you unless it's absolutely necessary."

"I get to keep the superpowers for longer, so that's fine with me," I grin. As she grins back, I feel myself relaxing a little bit more. "So… What superpowers do Quincies have? I assume they're not the same as Soul Reaper powers."

"No, their powers are very different," Rina says. "Soul Reapers use the spirit energy within themselves. Quincies, on the other hand, manipulate the spiritons in the atmosphere around them to create weapons and fight."

"So that's what the bow and arrows are?" I ask, recalling Gunther's weapons made of blue light.

"Yeah," she nods. "Actually, that'd explain why I didn't sense Gunther's powers earlier… Quincies blend their own spirit pressures into the ambient spiritons, to gather and control the spiritons; powers like these are just inherently more subtle and easier to hide. If Gunther blended his spirit pressure into the atmosphere really well…"

"So it's like a kind of camouflage?"

"Mhm."

"So what special abilities do they have?" I ask. "I mean, Soul Reapers have Demoncraft and Aegis and all that. What about Quincies?"

"I'm afraid I don't really know anything about that…" Rina shakes her head. "The academy didn't teach us much about Quincies. Because, you know, the holocaust… It's not something they liked to talk about."

"I see…" I give her hand a gentle squeeze. "Uh…"

"What is it?"

Now that I'm thinking about it, it's actually making me nervous. "The duel with Gunther. How worried should I be…?"

"I'm… not sure, to be honest," she says. There's a bit of worry in Rina's eyes too. "Roughly speaking, I'm stronger than at least ninety percent of all the Soul Reapers out there, and you're about as strong as me. But we don't know how strong Gunther is… So I'd say we shouldn't worry too much, but shouldn't be overconfident either."

Hearing her words genuinely makes me feel much better. "All right. Thank you, Rina."

"You're welcome," she smiles. "Besides, he can't be stronger than both of us together."

"Uh… What if he attacks me when I'm not with you?"

"If it comes to that…" I can see the regret in her gaze, but also an iron-hard resolve. "Then I'll send him to Soul Society myself."

"Heh…" I chuckle a bit at the morbid prospect. "He'd better get used to Soul Reapers then, one way or another."

"Hehe, I guess…"

I pause for a moment, thinking. "Rina, listen…" I look intently into her eyes. "Gunther told me to not trust you, because you're a Soul Reaper. But… I just want you to know that I'm buying none of his bullshit. I trust you with my life, Rina. I have, and I will always."

Her eyes widen a little. Then I suddenly feel her arms wrapped around my neck, and the warmth of her whole body pressed against me. "Thank you, James…" Her smile almost makes me melt.

We stay like that for a bit.

"So… Any tips on the fight tomorrow?" I ask as we (finally!) begin to have dinner. "Do I, like, just tank his arrows or something?"

"Hmm…" Rina ponders for a bit. "He doesn't have a crossbow, does he?"

"Nope, regular bow."

"Longbow or shortbow?"

"Uh…" I scratch my head, trying to remember the exact appearance of Gunther's bow. "I have no idea. It looked pretty long, I think." Beat. "…my sword is longer. Sex joke."

"Pfffft," she bursts out laughing. "Real mature, James."

"No U."

"Sure, sure." She tries her hardest to suppress the giggles. "What about his arrows? How hard and how fast did they hit?" Beat. "No more sex jokes, please."

"Boohiss." This time I try to recall the moment when I saw Gunther's arrow, uh, penetrate into the ground. Must… resist urge to make another sex joke… "Hmm… It was pretty damn fast; I could barely see it. But… I'm probably not all that good at this kind of thing, but I didn't sense all that much _power_ in the arrow. And…" I focus on the memory of the exact shape of the hole in the ground. "The ground wasn't cracked at all around where the arrow hit. This means it doesn't pack a lot of blunt force, right?"

"Huh, you're pretty good."

I spread out my hands. "Physics major."

"This is why I like you. I like men with big…" She deliberately pauses for a moment. "…_brains_! Hehe."

"Hey, my _other thing_ is pretty big too." I also pause for a moment. "…wait. The amount of spirit energy a guy has… It can't be correlated with, you know, _size_, right…?"

We stare at each other for a bit.

Then we both break down into giggling fits.

"M-Man… I wonder where Freud is in Soul Society right now… Ehehehehehehe…"

"I… I probably don't want to see how big his _sword_ is… Heh heh…"

"A-Anyways…" Rina takes a deep breath and tries to compose herself. "You said Gunther shot a hole in the ground, right? So how deep-"

"Se-"

She gives me a stare.

"S-Sorry," I cough. She's right. If we just keep making sex jokes and giggling like a pair of eighth-graders, we're not going to get anywhere with the discussion. "No, it didn't go very deep. I think I could still see about a third of the arrow sticking out before it disappeared."

"Hmm…" Rina considers that for a moment. "So it doesn't have much blunt force, and isn't very armor-piercing… Does it have any special properties?"

"Not any that I could see," I shrug. "So it's not a rocket launcher, or a sniper rifle, or whatever debuff gun FPSs have nowadays."

"Right," she nods. "We're just speculating at this point, but… I don't think it's unreasonable to think that Gunther might be able to shoot lots of those standard arrows quickly. You know, like a machine gun."

"…or it could be a pistol," I say. "Maybe that's why he's challenging me. I make him feel inadequate."

"Or maybe he's feeling inadequate because he doesn't have a super cute and sexy girlfriend like you do!"

"Mhm. That clearly must be the case."

"Ehehe…" She grins and clings to my arm for a bit. "In any case, I think you can probably afford to just tank the standard arrows."

"But I still shouldn't take more hits than I have to, right?"

"Yeah. And he might have other tricks up his sleeve, so we should still be careful."

"Got it." I take a glance at the clock. "Hmm… It's still early in the evening. After we finish eating, should we, you know, train a bit?"

"Sure, but only a bit." She puts a hand gently on my arm. "You should conserve your strength."

"Yeah, of course." I think for a moment. "Your sword can shoot energy bolts, right? Spammable energy bolts, I mean. Maybe you could use that to mimic Gunther's arrows a bit and give me a crash course on dealing with those."

"Sure, I can do that," she nods. "_After_ dinner though, alright?"

"Alright." As we pause for a moment, I look into her eyes. "Rina… Thank you. I don't think I'd be able to go through this alone."

She flashes me a smile so warm that I want to see it every day for the rest of forever. "You're welcome, James. I'll always be here for you…"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

The next day, as I go through my university classes, Rina is no longer her usual cheerful and mischievous self. Instead, she remains a constant gentle, soothing presence by my side, easing away any anxiety I have for the fight with Gunther. When we see Gunther again on campus, it's now completely obvious that he's looking at Rina. Glaring daggers at her, in fact. We both just smile at him, and pretend that nothing notable is going on.

Ten minutes before five PM, Rina and I are lying comfortably down on my bed. A moment later, we both leave our physical bodies, and head toward the agreed meeting spot. When we arrive, we see Gunther waiting for us there. He's wearing what I assume to be some kind of uniform, a long high-collared tunic and pants all in white, with dark blue cross motifs.

"You're late," he says, in a tone that's just so casually, effortlessly condescending without even intending to.

"No, you're just early," I say. "And an asshole."

"Hmph," he scoffs. "Leave the ineffectual insults _after_ I've defeated you and taken away your powers."

"Yep, asshole."

Gunther simply gives me a sharp glare and says nothing more regarding the matter. Then he turns toward Rina, and narrows his eyes. "No one asked you to come, Soul Reaper."

"Actually, James did." Rina smiles at him sweetly.

For a moment it looks like Gunther wants to say something, but he simply gives Rina another glare. "Enough talk. Follow me."

"Wait, where?" I ask, with alarm and caution in my tone.

"You understand, of course, that we can't simply have our fight here, don't you?" Yep, there's that effortlessly condescending tone again.

I resist the urge to punch him and thus actually start the fight right here. "Gee, I never realized. I mean, it's not like you're the only one who can be seen by normal people, right?"

"Did you think the terrain would be spared from the physical effect of our battle?" He looks at me as though I'm an idiot.

Grr… Easy, James… Don't start the fight here… "Maybe the terrain'll be spared 'cuz I'm a merciful person?" I glare at him acidly. "Come on, cut the crap. Where are we going? How do we know you're not setting us up for an ambush?"

"If I wanted to ambush you, I could've done so anytime before I challenged you."

…oh. Right.

"It's okay, James," Rina gives me a reassuring hand squeeze. "I won't let him pull anything funny."

"Thanks," I smile. Then I turn back to Gunther. "Okay, fine. We'll bite. Lead the way."

"Hmph," he scoffs. Without another word, he turns around, and leaps into the air with a burst of faint blue light under his feet.

I briefly consider just staying here and let him run off on his own. But nah… While that'd make him look like an idiot, it'd probably also provoke him into attacking me at the next available opportunity, when I'm less mentally prepared. Eh.

…at least I've mostly gotten the hang of the walking on air using a spiriton platform thing.

It turns out that having superpowers makes covering a lot of distance surprisingly easy. Who would've thought. Each jump takes me forward by at least a few meters, and it feels like I can keep doing this for practically forever and never get tired. In a few minutes, we've arrived.

…it's our university's beach.

Okay, I don't know what I was expecting, but I definitely didn't expect a _beach_ to be the location of our epic duel to the death or whatever.

Wait. Gunther isn't stopping. He keeps going into the sea, until he's a kilometer away from the shore, with nothing but water under his feet. Then he begins to do… something.

We quickly catch up to him. He's holding several of what look like finger-sized cylinders made of silver. He opens one of them, and pours out its contents, a glowing blue liquid the same color as his arrows that forms a small pool in midair. He then proceeds to do the same four more times, so that the five pools mark the boundary of a circle about a hundred meters in radius. Lastly, he pours out a sixth cylinder at the center of the circle. As soon as the central pool forms, a line of blue energy extends from it toward the other five pools, to form the shape of something like a five-pointed asterisk. After the asterisk forms, it quickly erects a dome of shimmering, translucent blue energy that covers the whole circle.

Rina looks at the giant glowing asterisk, and frowns. "What's that for?"

Gunther gives her a glare, and turns to look at me. "This is a barrier that renders everything inside invisible to non-spiritual senses, so that our duel won't be seen or heard."

"Huh." Interesting. Rina and I begin to walk toward the dome.

But Gunther stops Rina with a gesture of his hands. "Stay outside the barrier, Soul Reaper," he says in a tone that really doesn't sound like he's open to negotiation. "While inside the barrier, we won't be able to see or hear non-spiritual entities. You need to stay outside, keep watch, and alert us of anything notable."

"…fair enough," Rina says grudgingly. But then her gaze hardens. "Listen. I don't care who wins or loses this fight. I'll send you to Soul Society myself before you can do anything to James, Quincy."

Gunther narrows his eyes. "We'll see about that, Soul Reaper." He turns away, and begins walking into the dome of shimmering blue energy.

Eh, the fight's starting anyways. Might as well stab him in the back now. I pretend to follow Gunther like a good puppy, while silently channeling spirit energy into my sword. Wait for it…

I briefly consider shouting "BACKSTABUU!" as I, well, backstab him. That song is German anyways, so it'd be hilariously appropriate. But then again, it's probably too obscure a reference for him. I don't even know if he plays video games, let alone Dark Souls.

…_now_!

The huge crescent-shaped wave of bluish green energy erupts from my nodachi, tearing through the air as it flies toward Gunther's back with furious power. The wave makes contact, and…

…_passes through an afterimage_ as Gunther disappears in a blur of speed. It makes a ripple in the translucent blue dome, and plunges into the sea below. An instant later, Gunther reappears, a couple of meters to the right of his previous location.

"Come on now, James." I can practically see the disdain dripping from his voice. "If you're going to attempt a stealth attack, shouldn't you at least make sure your spirit pressure isn't so easy to sense, hmm?"

Well. That didn't exactly go according to keikaku.

…T/N: Keikaku means plan.

Blegh, whatever… Can't exactly expect a veteran like Gunther to fall for something so simple, I guess. Oh well.

Now that we're inside the dome, I take a moment to look at my surroundings. Gunther wasn't kidding when he said it blocks non-spiritual senses both ways. Beyond the dome's borders, I can see nothing but luminescent blue mists that obscure everything. Everything except Rina. She stands perfectly clear against the backdrop of blue, with an…

…alarmed look on her face?

"James, behind you!"

In retrospect, maybe I should've ducked. But eh, I'm new to this crap. Instinctively, I turn back and, upon seeing the sharp glint of blue heading directly toward my face, holds up a hand to protect my dashingly handsome visage from whatever menace that seeks to maim it. I mentally steel myself for the horrible pain, and…

Ow, the agony! The excruciating torture! The-

…it feels no more painful than a particularly hard and mean-spirited finger poke. Huh.

I remove the hand from in front of my face, to see the frown and look of mild disbelief on Gunther's face.

"Come on now, Gunther. If you're going to attempt a stealth attack, shouldn't you at least make sure your arrows are actually capable of hurting me, hmm?"

He silently glowers at me. We stay like that for a moment. Too bad there are no tumbleweeds floating around.

"Bring it, scrub," I say. "Prepare to get rekt."

Gunther disappears in another blur of speed. This time, I don't try to follow the movement with my eyes, and instead just try to use my spiritual sense to roughly pinpoint his destination. And what do you know, he's appeared somewhere behind me again. I let my spirit energy flow into my head, suffusing my brain with power, so that the whole world appears to slow down and zoom into sharp clarity as I trigger the spiritual equivalent of an adrenaline rush. I may not be able to learn Rina's super speed thing, but I can at least pull off the much simpler prerequisite, sharpening my senses with spirit energy; the pointers she gave me last night would be lifesavers. I turn around, and see over a dozen blue arrows flying toward me, at a speed made manageable by my bullet time thing. A few of the arrows arrive ahead of the time, and assail me with their deadly finger pokes of doom, but I step out of the way in time to avoid the majority of them. Ha, no more surprise buttsecks from Gunther.

"Oi, I thought you hated Soul Reapers?" I call out casually. "Why are you using their super speed shtick then?"

"How _dare_ you suggest…" Gunther's reaction is immediate. "The Quincy Schnelligkeit is _infinitely_ superior to the crude and primitive technique you Soul Reapers call Celeritas!" As he hisses out the words in anger, he disappears once again. Now that he mentions it, I think the sound his super speed thing makes is noticeably different than the sound Rina makes, something like a sharp whistle rather than a "whooshing" of wind. But I don't get the opportunity to think any more about this as this time, two bursts of arrows come from my left and right, pinning me in the middle.

[_T/N: "Schnelligkeit" means "speed" in German; it corresponds to Hirenkyaku in canon. I used Google Translate for this, so I sincerely apologize if I inadvertently butchered the German language. If anyone has any better suggestions, please tell me._]

But I don't panic; Rina showed me quite a few useful things last night. I call up my spirit pressure and, rather than having it cling to my skin as the Aegis, will it to flare out in an omnidirectional burst. The burst of turquoise light floods from me, engulfing all of Gunther's arrows and sweeping them back. None of them even manage to touch me. Gunther sure doesn't look very pleased right now as he reappears in front of me, some fifty meters or so away. Heh… Maybe he's all bark and no bite after all, thinking he's got the right to judge me just because he's been in this business for a few years longer! I'm _so_ going to kick his ass.

Gunther nocks another arrow, and prepares to attack again. But I don't let him.

Power rushes from the depths of my soul and gathers into my legs. I let it build for an instant, before releasing it all in a burst out of my feet, just as I push myself forward in a sprinting leap. It clearly doesn't give me the superhuman agility that Rina and Gunther are capable of… but it still propels me forward in a straight line, very very quickly.

What's even better, Gunther clearly isn't expecting me to be this fast.

I bring down the blade of my nodachi down in a two-handed cleave with all my strength. According to the basic laws of physics, what moves fast, hits hard. His eyes widen in shock, and he instinctively brings up his bow to intercept my attack, but my sword slices straight through the bow of blue energy and keeps going. It cuts apart the white fabric of Gunther's uniform, makes contact with the skin of his shoulder, and…

_Clang._

It feels like striking against _stone_.

For a second, I just stay perfectly still, staring at the area on Gunther's shoulder that my blade is touching. Vein-like patterns of dark blue energy can be seen on the skin, faintly glowing, the glow pulsating in sync with what I presume to be his heartbeat. Whatever it is, it doesn't budge a centimeter against the edge of my nodachi.

"I'm mildly impressed, James," says Gunther. "To think that you've actually forced me to use my Blut…"

Abruptly, the left side of my ribs feels like it's crashed into a ton of bricks. Which feels _so much worse_ than Gunther's previous finger pokes of doom. "Agh!" I cry out. The shock brings a real adrenaline rush, along with the spiritual equivalent, temporarily speeding up my perceptions enough to see that the two broken halves of Gunther's bow have turned into _swords_. Where his hand grips each sword's hilt, the veins of energy under Gunther's skin seem to extend into the sword itself, turning the energy that the weapon is composed of to the same shade of dark blue. Another blow comes, and I frantically raise my own weapon to block it. The clash feels completely different now, with my sword not making even a single dent in his, even though his sword had once been a part of the bow that I cleaved through with little effort. And Gunther is still as goddamned fast as ever. There's no way I can parry all of his blows, and each blow that comes through still hits like a ton of bricks. None of them has managed to cut through my Aegis yet, but damn if this isn't going to leave bruises. Muttering a curse under my breath, I release a burst of spirit pressure to propel myself away from Gunther.

Fuck. Maybe this'll be tougher than I thought after all.

"And did you think I was helpless in melee combat? Just because I'm an archer?" His smirk is now even more infuriatingly smug than before.

"You son of a…" I take a moment to catch my breath. "What, is that your ripoff of the Soul Reapers' Aegis?" I ask, staring at the glowing dark blue veins that can now be seen all over the skin of his whole body.

"Again with the presumptuousness…" It's quite satisfying to see his annoying smirk instantly turn into a snarl. "The Quincy's Blut Vene operates on entirely superior principles, and did you think that's all the Blut is capable of?!" For a moment, the energy veins on his body fade away, before being replaced by a different set that is _blood red_. "Blut Arterie!"

As he barks out these words, he slams the hilts of his dual swords together, merging them back into a bow that has now turned to the same shade of red as the new set of energy patterns on his body. And he nocks an arrow, the whole projectile burning a furious crimson.

Gunther lets go of the bowstring.

The arrow flies toward me, leaving a sanguine trail as it sails through the air. Almost on instinct, I will my spirit pressure to flare out as the arrow approaches, thinking of blowing it away like I'd done with all of Gunther's previous arrows. But I almost immediately regret it.

The arrow _explodes_.

"Aaaaargh!" I let out a scream. The sensation is almost the same as when I was struck by the Adjuchas's cone of destructive energy, a surge of red-hot pain that even my Aegis can't completely block. It looks similar too, the way the armor on my left forearm is now singed, despite the lack of any actual fire or heat. As for the skin underneath… After the initial peak, there's now just a duller throbbing pain, feeling almost exactly like being burned. I grit my teeth, and force some of my spirit energy to flow into the afflicted area, which immediately begins to feel much better, like treating a burn with cold water. It's not completely healed, though; I'll probably need to ask Rina for some treatment later.

"James!" Rina shouts. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm-"

And of course Gunther waits till I'm distracted by talking before he attacks, unleashing a volley of blood-colored arrows toward me.

Shit.

The bunch of arrows all explode, splashing their red energies all over me, which hurts absolutely like hell. And the pain sort of makes my brain go on overdrive, like a real adrenaline rush. Fucking asshole, I ain't gonna take his shit anymore. I'm more or less going by instinct at this point, letting out an incoherent "GRAAAAAAAARGH!" as I brute force my way through the cloud of deadly sanguine energy and lunge toward Gunther, pushing myself forward with a burst of spirit pressure. And as I rush at him, I swing down my sword, unleashing a giant wave of destructive of energy of my own, flying toward Gunther with incredible speed. When I'm already moving really fast to begin with.

Vector addition, bitch.

Unfortunately, the doubly-fast projectile still doesn't hit Gunther. But he barely moves out of the way this time, and I can clearly see that one end of his blood-red bow has been vaporized by my attack.

Hey, wait a minute. "Heh heh…" I begin to grin, as I work it out in my head.

"What's so funny?" Gunther asks irritably, as he once again repositions himself to be away from me.

"You can't use your defense and attack buffs at the same time, can you?" I ask, and look at the broken, still smouldering end of his bow. Gunther is obviously no pushover, and knows what he's doing… But if I'm smart, even a complete noob like me can see through his tricks.

Gunther glowers. Without a word, he regenerates the end of his bow, and nocks another bright red arrow.

My own heartbeat is still pounding like a drum in my ears, and I can clearly feel the rushing of spirit energy inside myself, in sync with my pulse. It's like when I first received Soul Reaper powers from Rina… The rush of power makes the pain all over my body seem almost inconsequential. I can see an aura of intense bluish green surrounding my arms and presumably the rest of my body, and I'm pretty sure my eyes are glowing.

Gunther vanishes.

With a great burst of energy, visible underneath my feet as ripples of bright turquoise light, I propel myself several meters straight up into the air. Just in time to avoid the flurry of arrows as they zip past my soles. From up here, I easily spots him as Gunther fades back into view, taking a precious second or two straining his neck to look up at me. During said precious second or two, I swoop down at him, both hands holding my sword and swinging downwards, the speed and power of the descending attack amplified by gravity. The blade is charged with blue and green energy, but I do not release it, and instead use it to enhance the power of my melee attack.

_Clang!_

A split instant later, the vein-like patterns of energy on Gunther's skin have shifted back to dark blue, along with the color of his bow. For a moment, we struggle against each other. But this time, Gunther's bow is very obviously cracking, where the edge of my blade cuts into the construct of blue energy.

And _now_ I release the energy in my sword.

A brilliant explosion of turquoise and white fills my vision. By the time it fades, Gunther has taken a few steps back, his bow once again split in two and transformed into dual shortswords. A large, ugly burn mark can be seen slashed across his torso and abdomen. The glowing blue veins still pulse under his skin, but said skin is now visibly red where my wave of energy had struck, with some patches even blackened. Gunther's face is now twisted in a grimace of pain.

Not letting Gunther regain his bearings, I immediately lunge toward him again, while charging my weapon with energy. He responds with a furious snarl, as he brings up one sword to parry, and the other to stab me in the gut. My Aegis barely stops it, and it feels like being poked in the stomach by a long metal pole, knocking the breath out of me, but I release the energy in my sword at the same time. The burst of power is not as strong as usual, but it still snaps Gunther's other sword and singes his shoulder. He hisses, and immediately conjures another sword, which totally isn't hax or anything, and slashes me in the ribs with it. I grit my teeth and endure the pain, but another attack immediately comes, then another, and another, and another; the force of the blows is so strong that I'm pretty sure it's cracking my armor even through the Aegis. But I… I'm even _stronger_ than him. With a shout, I draw out even more of the power in the depths of my soul. And I pretty much start to run on instinct again from that point. A flare of spirit pressure pushes Gunther slightly away, just far enough away for me to raise my nodachi and bring it down in a full arc, the blade bursting into bright light mid-swing and cutting into his already-wounded shoulder and _finally_ drawing some blood. Each time I land a blow, I take several blows from him, some of which are actually beginning to get through my Aegis. One stab glances off, but keeps going forward, the edge of the sword slicing a wound into the side of my waist. The wound is quickly followed by a few more. The pain of the wounds, bruises, and burns from his red arrows earlier are all adding up, but I can hardly bring myself to care as I cleave another gash across his body. I then pull back my sword, pointing the tip at the center of Gunther's chest, and let loose a concentrated beam rather than a wave of energy from said tip. It stabs into him, and pushes him back as he begins to bleed. As we put some distance between us again, we just stare at each other, both panting and out of breath.

I can almost physically feel Rina's gaze on me, her pain and worry regarding the state I'm in. But hell if I'm going to give up now. Gunther looks worse off than I am, and unlike me, _he_ doesn't have anyone here caring and rooting for him. Rina gave me this awesome power, and I won't let some douchebag like Gunther just take it away. So what if he's more experienced than me? With Rina's support, I've clearly got what it takes to use this power effectively and even fight on par with him.

"I suppose I should congratulate you, James…" The corners of Gunther's mouth curl in a cold, savage smile, and his eyes seem to burn with a soul-chilling light. "To think that you're making me resort to _this_…"

His whole body begins to glow, not the usual sky blue of his bow and arrows, nor the deep sea blue of his defensive ability, or the blood red of his offensive ability, but a pure, pristine white. It emanates from him in waves, and also seems to extend outwards thousands of gossamer strands of spirit pressure into the atmosphere around us.

"_Sklaverei._"

There is suddenly what feels like a rushing of wind toward Gunther's body. It takes me a moment to realize that the "wind" is actually the flow of spiritons in the air, being pulled along by the strands of spirit pressure extending from Gunther. All the spirit particles are being siphoned toward his two hands, the palm of each now sporting an incandescent white five-pointed asterisk construct. And…

The spiritons coalesce into two almost exact copies of my nodachi.

My mouth hangs open for a bit. "How the hell…?!" I mean, if he controls spiritons, and made those knockoffs from _my_ spiritons that I released into the air with all those energy blasts, that makes some sense, but even then how can he just…

"Did you really think I'm stupid enough to explain the details of my ability to an enemy?" There comes the ridiculously condescending tone again. The two copies of my weapon in his hands smoothly shorten until they're only as long as Gunther's previous two shortswords, presumably because real life isn't Dark Souls and you can't expect dual wielding normally two-handed weapons to work out. At the same time, the glowing veins under Gunther's skin extend themselves into the swords too. He makes an experimental slicing motion with one of the swords, now resembling a wakizashi; a layer of dark blue energy gathers around the blade as it passes through the air. "Hmm… This spiriton-gathering ability of your Soulslayer is actually rather Quincy-like. You didn't know this, did you? Such a waste of its potential…"

With a casual flick of his blade, Gunther sends a thin, sharp, crescent-shaped wave of sea blue energy at me, one that's completely identical to Rina's own except for color. "Agh!" I cry out as the attack catches me off-guard, creating a gash of burning pain across my left arm.

Shit. My Aegis is faltering, and the fatigue is catching up to me. And is it just me, or have Gunther's wounds already stopped bleeding? Ugh… And, inappropriately enough, _now_ my brain decides to randomly realize that Gunther's fighting style is a ripoff of goddamned Archer from Fate/stay night, shooting arrows and fighting with conjured dual shortswords and making copies of his enemies' weapons and everything. I swear, if he pulls out a fucking Unlimited Blade Works on me right now…

He disappears in a flash of speed. I catch glimpses of him to my left, then right, and above, and in front, and everywhere else, as he unleashes a flurry of waves of dark blue energy at me from multiple angles at once, much like what Rina had done against the Adjuchas. There's no way I can dodge something like that. As the sea-colored slashes bite through my armor and into my skin, I once again reach into the depths of my soul and forcibly pull out what energy I have remaining, before directing all of it into the layer of protective spirit pressure around me. The result feels exactly like being cut by a few dozen knives at once, and I can't help but to scream, but at least I'm still in one piece. Just as I finish doing that, Gunther appears in front of me, and strikes with both swords. For some reason, I still have the strength to raise up my sword to block, even though I'm burnt and bleeding and hurting all over. For a second, we struggle against each other.

That's when I see that Gunther is panting too, trembling, his face pale. A sudden confidence surges from within me.

"Haaaaaaaah!" I shout. Along with the surge of confidence, energy surges from my weapon, a wave of brilliant turquoise that engulfs Gunther and pushes him back. Afterwards, I can clearly see that one of his swords is now broken. "Heh… Looks like your knockoff is inferior to the real thing after all, huh?" Yes… I can win this! My fighting spirit will triumph over his advantage in experience and skill, and-

"That won't matter," Gunther says, his tone now eerily calm. The broken wakizashi in his left hand dissipates, replaced by his bow of blue energy. The intact sword in his other hand lengthens, and straightens, as he nocks it to his bow as though it's an arrow. All before the vein-like patterns on his body, the bow, and the blade itself all turn red as blood.

"James!" I suddenly hear Rina's panicked voice. "_Dodge that!_"

But it's too late. All I see is a flash of crimson, and an explosion. And horrible, horrible pain.

Damn bastard… He has to copy Archer till the very end, huh…

I seem to vaguely feel myself lying on the shimmering blue ground, hurting so badly that I literally can't find any word to describe it. I struggle to open my eyes, and see Gunther standing aloof over me. Ugh… Guess fighting spirit alone isn't enough…

"And so you failed after all, James Hawking," he murmurs. "As I thought. Now, to remove from you the power that you don't deserve…"

"As if I'll let you!" Rina shouts. In the corner of my vision, I see a bright light around her, and-

With a tap of Gunther's foot, the shimmering blue dome around us solidifies into glass-like integrity. "As if I didn't think that far ahead," he replies coldly.

Terror begins to grip my mind, as I see and hear Rina shouting and beating furiously on the force field. But… Like what happened against the Adjuchas, her attacks are failing to make anything more than shallow scratches on the barrier. I grit my teeth, wanting to throw the nastiest curses I can possibly think of at Gunther, but way too tired and hurt to do so. Piece of shit… So this is what he made the dome for…! I can't believe we played straight into his hands…

Gunther's energy turns back to dark blue, and he conjures a single arrow, the razor-sharp tip like a sliver of midnight pointed at my heart.

"W-Wait…" I hear myself feebly trying to say. "R-Rina said t-this might k-k-kill me… And d-destroy my s-soul…"

"She lies," Gunther says.

The arrow pierces my heart.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note:**

To make the Quincy fight more interesting than just Getsuga Tenshou versus arrow spam, I gave Gunther most of the basic Quincy abilities of the Wandenreich. Namely, the two variants of Blut, Sklaverei, and the ability to form reishi constructs other than just bows and arrows, which are all theoretically obtainable by any Quincy (Gunther isn't a Sternritter, so I didn't give him any of the random, and frankly very overpowered, Sternritter abilities). And it just so happens that one is capable of, using these particular abilities, achieving a fighting style that's similar to Archer from Fate/stay night. Hey, Quincies are archers, so why not? :P

Blut Vene and Blut Arterie didn't get much elaboration in the manga, so I just made my own extrapolations. They're dark blue and blood red respectively, based on how venal and arterial blood are typically illustrated on textbooks. Blut Vene increases defense by increasing the rigidity and stability of reishi constructs, and Blut Arterie increases attack by making reishi constructs more volatile and thus explosive. These two kind of run on opposite principles, so they can't be used at the same time. I hope these are adequate in filling the holes left by Kubo.

And again, I have very little understanding of the German language. So if any German speakers can think of a word more fitting than "Schnelligkeit" to replace Hirenkyaku, please tell me. You will be credited if I decide to use your suggestion.


	6. Chapter 5: Truce

**Author's Note**:

EDIT ON NOVEMBER 18, 2015:

After talking with my friend and proofreader Hierophant, I've decided to revise some of the fighting scenes in this fanfic, to more readily reflect the conflicts that are the underlying causes of each fight. In most cases, I've added some more insight into the main character's thoughts, as the fights progressed.

In this chapter, only the Gunther fight scene had been revised (not including the inner world scene). You don't need to re-read any other sections.

**Chapter 5: Truce**

I've lived a pretty tame life, all things considered. Haven't experienced any terribly painful hardships or anything. Which is why saying things like "this feels more painful than anything else I've experienced in my life" repeatedly, as I've done during the past week or so, quickly makes the sentence lose its meaning.

But yes, _THIS FEELS MORE PAINFUL THAN ANYTHING ELSE I'VE EXPERIENCED IN MY LIFE_.

Goddamn, it hurts. I'm burnt, bruised, and generally aching all over. There's an arrow stuck in my chest and, as emo as this sounds, I'm pretty sure more than my blood is bleeding away. What's it called again, "soul sleep" or something like that? Hell if I can remember now. All I know is that I'm thrashing and incoherently screaming, and I'm quickly losing the strength to do even those because _my soul itself is bleeding away through the wound_.

Shit.

And predictably enough, my life begins flashing before my eyes. For a second I'm kind of bummed that my early childhood wasn't anything particularly pleasant to remember, because claiming that you can see ghosts tends to make all the other kids think you're crazy. But then I got adopted, met Rina, and things started getting better. I even got other friends too! Man, I wonder where Julia and Gabe are now... Haven't spoken to them in years because I was too busy moping over Rina's death.

...no. No no no no no no _NO_. I ain't gonna die like this. Not now, not after I've just started seeing Rina again. And _especially_ not to some humongous misguided asshat like Gunther. My soul literally falling apart because of him? Yeah, well, _fuck this shit_! I'll pull myself together with my bare hands if I-

...huh? When did I end up in outer space?

I mean... Where else can this be? There's no ground, no gravity (which feels pretty trippy, by the way), it's pitch black in all directions... and I see what look like stars and nebulae in various luminous hues of indigo, violet, and purple. It's all very pretty and mesmerizing, really...

...if not for the fact that I'm still _dying_. Hell, for all I know this is just some hallucination that my increasingly desperate mind has come up with as it fails to comprehend its own cessation of existence. But hey, is that a fractal I'm seeing over there? Looks kind of like a Julia set, or whatever those seahorse shapes are called...

Then I see a single point of light, brighter and more vibrant than all the other stellar clouds around me. Or wait, maybe that's just because it's closer to me than everything else? I squint a little. Hmm... It looks like a little ball of some kind of bluish purple jade-like material, about the size of an eyeball, maybe a bit less. And it looks about just close enough for me to grab...

Oh, and there's a gaping hole in my chest. Which is just wonderful, isn't it. But no, it doesn't seem to be a bleeding wound, and doesn't hurt. It's not really like a Hollow's chest hole either, since it doesn't go all the way through; it's just a sunken section of some indeterminate, shadowy blackness. But it's slowly spreading, which kind of alarms me.

Hmm, I wonder...

I reach out with one hand and slowly, tentatively close my fingers around the bluish purple sphere. The moment I touch it, it feels as though a jolt of electricity runs from the sphere through my arm and whole body. And... Damn, the thing is _heavy_. Even with enhanced Soul Reaper strength, the little ball feels like it weighs a few tons! Is it, like, a tiny neutron star or something, since I'm apparently in outer space and-

Whether the sphere is reacting to my will or just my touch, I don't know. But it moves toward me on its own accord, and slots itself into the hole in my chest.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGHHHHHHHH!_"

For an instant, it feels like millions of lightning bolts are striking my body at the same time, while I'm being crushed by the weight of the whole planet. But then it's over, and my eyes snap open.

I'm back under the dome created by Gunther. All my wounds have healed. A black and purple aura now surrounds my whole body, as opposed to Rina's usual greenish blue. Those are the same colors as the weird outer space place from earlier, and... the same colors as the black and purple I saw for an instant, back when Rina first transferred her Soul Reaper powers to me. Gunther stands facing me, his mouth agape, a look of utter shock and disbelief on his face.

Damn, is this the random hidden powerup that all shounen manga protagonists always pull out of nowhere when they're in danger? Sure is convenient! This probably isn't the most legit way of winning a fight, but it beats being dead!

"Y-You..." The word comes out of Gunther's mouth as half a growl, half a gasp. "How did..."

"This isn't even my final form!" I give him the most trollish grin I can possibly muster. "Wait until you see my _TRUE_ power! HYAAAAAAAAAAA!" At the same time, I will my newfound energy to flare out in a huge burst, intending to intimidate Gunther some more.

A huge wave of black and purple rushes outward from me, seemingly distorting space itself in its wake. As the fabric of space twists and warps, cracks rapidly begin appearing in the glass-like blue dome conjured by Gunther. An instant later, the whole dome simply shatters, as though it is suddenly too heavy to support its own weight. Even Gunther himself is forced onto his knees, struggling against some enormous gravitational force within a dark haze that now permeates the space around us. Streams of brighter violet electricity pop in and out of existence sporadically in said dark haze, and it's very clear that the whole thing is connected to _me_.

_Daaaaaaaaamn._

"James!" I hear Rina shout. The next moment, she has already appeared beside me, a mixture of fear, concern, relief, and a dozen other expressions on her face. "Are you alright?! I-"

But then I notice that she, too, is struggling to remain standing, while inside the area of increased gravity generated by my power. "I... I'm okay," I reply, while mentally commanding the gravity aura to stop affecting Rina somehow. Or, at least, create a hole inside itself so that Rina is excluded from its zone of effect. But no, I can't seem to control this with any real degree of accuracy. Dammit.

"D-Damn... you..." Gunther hisses. His eyebrows furrow in intense concentration. "_H-Heilig Puppenspiel._" Strands of blue energy materialize out of various points on his skin, and wrap around Gunther's limbs. He grits his teeth, and the strings seem to pull on his arms and legs as though he's a puppet, forcing him to stand up against the strong gravitational pull, presumably because his own muscles are not powerful enough. Twin shortswords appear in his hands, and he brandishes them, moving only slightly more slowly than if the gravitational field isn't there at all.

[_T/N: "Heilig Puppenspiel" means "holy puppetry" in German; it corresponds to Ransoutengai in canon. Again, I used Google Translate for this, and better suggestions are welcome._]

Blegh. Cool as this gravity trick is, it probably won't keep Gunther down for long. And who knows how long my current power surge will last... I'm probably already stretching my chances to the limit, going up against someone who's just a so much more skilled and experienced fighter than me, even with my random new powerup. Better finish this in one blow.

"Stand back," I say to Rina, while pulling all the power back to myself. The gravity field vanishes, and dark energy is gathered into my sword, whose blade has begun to take on a black and purple coloration as well. Dark electricity crackles around the weapon, the streams of energy distorting space in their paths, and I can feel the blade becoming heavier while somehow still able to move it without effort. Uh... What do I say when I make this attack? Meidou Zangetsuha? Chou Bijuu Rasenshuriken? Shit, I don't know anymore.

For an instant, Gunther's eyes meet mine. We both seem to know that it'll all come down to this.

"_HYAAAAAAAAAAGH!_" With the incoherent battle cry, I propel myself toward Gunther with some sort of anti-gravity, black energy twisting the space behind me as I go. Time slows down to a crawl, and there's no way Gunther's snail-pace movements can let him dodge my blade infused with dark lightning...

"_BLUT VENE ANHABEN!_" Gunther shouts, at the same time as I. As the words spill from his mouth, a force field of brilliant sea blue energy blooms into existence in front of him, its shape vaguely resembling both a five-petalled flower and the Quincy's five-pointed asterisk...

...wait, what the fuck. That's literally a recolored Rho Aias! Is this guy seriously basing _all_ of his fighting style on a Fate/stay night character?!

But I have no time to wonder about that further. My lightning-imbued sword clashes against Gunther's shield, and the whole world appears to shake.

Things get kind of hazy after that, as almost the entirety of my mind and willpower becomes dedicated to triumphing over Gunther in this power clash. Brilliant colors fill everywhere I can see, dark and foreboding purple struggling against calm, serene blue. And I think I can smell ozone in the air? I don't know. All I know is that I'm pushing forward with all my strength, drawing out every ounce of this newfound power from my soul, and probably screaming my throat raw in the process. One of the petals on Gunther's shield cracks (exactly like Rho Aias too!), then another, and a third.

Come on, James Hawking! _YOU CAN DO THIS! You're STRONGER than all of his stupid tricks!_

A guttural scream escapes from my throat. At this point, I'm probably not a sane, rational, thinking human being anymore, but a beast driven by pure instinct… like the time I stabbed Rina's murderer to death, five years ago. It's kill or be killed. I let loose all the pent-up energy inside my sword (in hindsight, no Freudian imagery here at all, nope) in a titanic burst of lightning and kinetic force, striking Gunther point-blank, staining the whole world black for an instant.

When the darkness clears, Gunther's shield is gone. All the clothes on his upper body have been disintegrated, and he's covered in large, ugly burns all over. He falls to his knees, and I can clearly see him shaking.

"Ha!" I harshly bark out, still haven't completely returned to my senses yet. "You got rekt, scr-"

Everything suddenly tilts ninety degrees sideways.

Huh…? What… What's happening? Why have my limbs turned to lead…? I can't… move…

"That was… quite some comeback," I can hear Gunther speaking, halfway between shaky wheezes. It takes all my strength to turn my neck enough so that I can catch a glimpse of the dark blue dagger forming in one of his hands. "But unfortunately for you… It wasn't enough."

…shit.

I guess this is it, huh… It's too much to expect a complete noob like me to beat a veteran like Gunther…

"It _was_ enough." A blink of turquoise at the edge of my vision, and I feel Rina's presence and spirit pressure next to me. A warm, soothing energy flows into my body, which begins to no longer completely feel like lead…

Oh, right. I shattered Gunther's stupid force field, and Rina can deal with him now. Take that, you asshole.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't send you to Soul Society right now," Rina practically snarls. Now that I can actually move a bit, I see a fury on Rina's face unlike anything I've seen before. Her whole body is practically a blazing, bluish green torch, so fiercely is her spirit pressure flaring from her. The katana in her hand is glowing with the same color, looking almost like a lightsaber, and I can feel the air around it thrumming with power. And her eyes… I don't think I want to be the one looking directly into them right now.

"You…" Gunther seems to think for a moment, then lets out a heavy sigh. The dagger in his hand disintegrates. "Very well, Soul Reaper. Here is your reason. I've seen enough of James's fighting spirit, and I will no longer be targeting him."

…huh. Does that mean I pass?

"Why should we trust you?" Rina says, her eyes narrowing. "You already tricked us once."

"That was only to ensure you wouldn't back out of our agreement," says Gunther matter-of-factly. "As I've said before, if I wanted to ambush James, I would have retained the element of surprise… like this. _Glanz._"

[_A/N: "Glanz" means "shine" in German. This is one of the Quincies' Gintou spells that I've made up._]

I barely manage to glimpse him crushing a vial of silver liquid before light engulfs us all. It's blindingly bright, and even blocks out my spirit senses for a few seconds. By the time the light fades, I see the top half of Gunther's head sinking into a pool of pitch-black shadows. And then he's gone.

…and then the spiriton platform Gunther conjured promptly dissipates. You know, the platform that I've been collapsed on top of. And below that is the _ocean_. "Glaaaargggghhh!" I gargle out as I drop into the water, then realize that I can still breathe; maybe it's because of spiritons in the water or something? But I'm still sinking, and my limbs can still hardly move at all, and-

Then Rina scoops me out of the water, in a total inversion of the typical bridal carry, which is somewhat embarrassing. But at least it beats sinking to the bottom of the ocean? I dunno. Things are starting to get awfully dark for some reason, and I can't quite open my mouth to ask…

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

When I next open my eyes, the first thing I see is the familiarity of my apartment ceiling. Everything is still sore and exhausted all over, but a gentle spirit energy is flowing into me, making it all so much more bearable.

"James!" Rina's soft voice asks. "Are you awake?"

"Uhhhhhhhhh…" I hear myself groggily mumble out. "I dunno… Maybe this is a dream…"

"A lucid dream?" Rina's face comes into my field of vision. I see mostly concern and relief, but also a hint of her usual mischief. "Then you can control what happens in the dream and make me do whatever perverted things you can imagine, right?"

That sends a shudder through me as several images of Rina in extremely NSFW clothing (if it can even be called "clothing") and doing even more NSFW things pop up in my mind. I bolt up, and shake my head hard a few times.

"_Now_ you're awake," she says, with a triumphant little grin.

I clear my throat, then stretch a little and look over myself. There's no Soul Reaper armor anywhere, nor any signs of burns, cuts, bruises, or any other types of injury… Which means I'm back in my human body. But the fatigue still remains. It's a really strange feeling, as though it goes deeper than muscle and bones. I guess this is what it feels like if my body is fine but my soul gets badly beaten up?

Then I do a double take when I see that Rina is wearing a nurse uniform. The whole thing is pinkish white with some bright red borders, consisting of a typical nurse hat, a short-sleeved top that hugs her figure nicely and, of course, a miniskirt and thigh-high stockings.

Am I really still dreaming…? Blugh. "…I'm not even going to ask where you got that outfit from."

"Ehehe, I have my ways…" She winks. Then her expression becomes more serious. "How are you feeling, James? Does it still hurt?"

"Ugh, yeah, but could've been worse…" I groan a bit.

"Need a massage or anything?" Rina asks, leaning in a bit closer.

"N-No, it's okay…" I stammer. She looks so cute in that nurse costume… I try not to stare _too_ much.

…aaaaaand of course she can tell what I'm thinking. Smirking, she snuggles up against me, and resumes restoring my spirit energy with her Demoncraft or whatever. The soothing power, along with the soft warmth of her body, is making me feel plenty better already.

"So…" I say after some moments of silence. "I got rekt pretty hard by Gunther."

"Nah, you did great!" She says, smiling brightly. "Gunther's got way more tricks than we expected, but you still stomped him good!" Her eyes become a little glittery and dreamy. "Especially at the end… You were _so cool_…"

"Uh, yeah, about that." I scratch my head. "How did I pull those random new abilities out of nowhere? I mean… It's like I'm a badly written shounen protagonist or something."

"Hmm…" Rina frowns. "I'm not really sure. But if I'm to guess…" She looks into my eyes, serious once again. "After Gunther shot you, but before you got those new powers, did you see or hear anything unusual?"

"Actually, yeah, there was this rather vivid hallucination…"

"Really?" Her eyes now have this intense look when she's really, _really_ interested in something. "What was it like?"

"Uh, let's see…" I try to recall everything I've experienced in that weird outer space area. "Well, I was in space, it felt like. No gravity, dark everywhere, except for those glowing purple nebulas or whatever. And then there was this… ball of light, except it felt ridiculously heavy for some reason. I touched it, and it plugged itself into the wound in my chest, and then it _hurt like a bitch_. Then I woke up and got the random new superpowers." I look at Rina, hoping she doesn't think I'm crazy.

"A ball of light?" She scratches her chin. "Sounds a bit too simple for a Soulslayer spirit, but…"

"Soulslayer spirit?" I blink. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I never mentioned." She thinks for a moment. "Every Soulslayer has a unique appearance and set of powers, right? Well, it also has a personification of its powers, or something like that, a spirit."

"Wait. Didn't you say the Soulslayer's abilities are determined by _your_ personality?"

"Yeah. The Soulslayer spirit is like a manifestation of your subconsciousness or something."

"…huh." I think about what this is going to mean when I become a Soul Reaper. "So you're saying all Soul Reapers have split personalities, and I'm going to get one too eventually?"

"Pretty much?" She shrugs.

"Hmm… What does your… inner spirit thing look like then?"

"Well, thing is, I don't really know," she says, sounding a bit embarrassed. "You'd have to be _really_ in-tune with your Soulslayer to be able to see its spirit. Just learning its name is hard enough, and that's needed to access the weapon's abilities… I haven't really gotten anywhere beyond that stage yet. It usually takes years or something."

…man, I'm wondering what my Soulslayer spirit looks like now; I really hope it's not something as boring as that ball of light. And… Rina's spirit…

"If my Soulslayer spirit looks like me, and is basically my subconsciousness…" Rina suddenly blushes. "It's possible to materialize the spirit into the real world, you know… Remember that t-threesome I-"

If I'd been drinking something, I'm sure I would've done a real spit take just then, as all sorts of… _interesting_ images involving a pair of Rina clones pop up in my mind.

"D-Don't get the wrong idea… I'd only s-share you with 'myself', y-you know…"

Welp, my face feels like it's on fire. "H-Hey, we're way off-topic!" I shake my head furiously, trying to clear away all the NSFW mental images.

"Hehe…" She giggles, still blushing. _HNNNNNNNNNG._

"A-Anyways…" I cough. "What about that trippy outer space sequence? Is that also a part of the inner spirit thing?"

"Yeah, probably." She nods. "The Soulslayer spirit exists in your 'inner world', a mental landscape based on your personality and stuff."

"So my inner world is… space?"

"Well, you're a hardcore physics geek… Your abilities looked like electricity and gravity, and your inner world was space? Sounds just like you, I'd say."

"Huh. I guess that's pretty accurate?" And cool too. I mean, if the superpower lottery gave me electricity and gravity, it's about as great a powerset as any. Definitely could've been a lot worse. Now, if only I can get the strong and weak nuclear forces too, to go along with the other two fundamental forces of the universe… "What does your inner world look like?" I ask Rina. "Wait. Your spirit pressure is the color of Miku's hair… Don't tell me your inner world is, like, a stage straight from Project Diva or something?"

"Hehe, I wish," she giggles. "But nah. It's basically a giant pool of turquoise light. It rippled like water, but I could still stand on it somehow, even without the spiriton air-walking thing. The sky was white, and the sun was turquoise too, and it had something like aurora or a halo around it that looked like a pair of wings. I've only been there once, in a dream, so I didn't really get much of an opportunity to look around carefully."

"That actually sounds pretty awesome," I say, imagining the scene that Rina is describing. "Can you take other people into your inner world?"

"I don't think I've heard of anything like that happening before…" She murmurs. "A shame. I'd love to see your inner world, and have you see mine."

I mentally add that to the list of things to do when I become a Soul Reaper scientist. "So how did I access my inner world anyways? I thought I was using _your_ power or something? I mean, even the color of my spirit pressure was the same as yours, up until that moment."

"I dunno. Try calling up your spirit pressure again?" She looks at me intently.

"Sure?" I raise a hand and imagine spiritual power coming out of it. The hand glows with a bluish green aura, just like every other time I'd done this. "Huh? And now it's back to your color again?"

"Hmmmmm…" She frowns, thinking for a long moment. "I didn't get the opportunity to learn more about spiritual physiology than what I needed to graduate, so I'm pretty much just guessing here, but… I think when Gunther shot you in the Chain of Binding, it scrambled your spirit energy flow pretty badly. But it obviously wasn't enough to remove your powers outright. Maybe it's like an adrenaline rush or something, maybe not, but one way or another it must've caused some kind of emergency activation of your powers, presumably for self-preservation."

"So… I can't use those powers right now because it's not an emergency?"

"Well, it's just an educated guess, but yeah." Rina's expression becomes a little worried again. "And… It put some really significant stress on your soul, James. When it wore off, it tired you out so much that you couldn't even move, right?"

"Yep. Limbs all felt like lead." Or osmium. Osmium is the densest chemical element, right? Whatever.

"Which probably means your body wasn't strong enough to handle your own power; you'd have to properly become a Soul Reaper for that. And because of that…" She looks into my eyes, her own eyes full of concern and uncertainty. "Please don't push yourself like that again, okay? Unless there's absolutely no other option…"

"H-Hey, I thought you said those powers looked cool?"

"They do, but… Straining your body like that can't be good for you!"

Dammit… Now I feel like a bastard for making Rina worry. "Don't w-worry, I'll try to be careful…"

"Thank you…" Leaning into me, she takes hold of my hand, and gently squeezes. We stay like that for a long while.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"So let me get one thing straight first," I ask, annoyed as I tend to be in these kinds of situations. "_How the hell did you know where I live?!_"

"Please, James. With your spirit energy leaking all over the place like that, you couldn't have made yourself more conspicuous if you tried," says Gunther, his tone as infuriating as ever. "Now, are you going to let me in, or do you want every neighbor and their dog to hear our conversation?"

"Try anything, and I sent you straight to Soul Society," Rina says, glaring at the Quincy hard. "And don't think you can surprise us again like you did yesterday."

"Save your breath, Soul Reaper," Gunther dismisses. "I'm here to negotiate, not to fight. Now, James?" He looks at me expectantly.

"If you trash my place, I'm suing you," I mutter under my breath, while letting Gunther past the front door with the utmost reluctance. "Have a seat! And would you like a glass of water? It totally doesn't have any laxatives in it, I promise!"

He pointedly ignores me, and looks around the living room. "Really, James. I thought having a girlfriend would make your home tidier than this?" He picks up a textbook I'd left on the sofa some time ago, snaps it shut (without bookmarking the page I was on), puts it on the table, and sits down as if he owns the place.

I try my hardest to resist the urge to punch him and start our rematch right then and there. "So what're you here to 'negotiate'?" I ask through clenched teeth.

"A truce," Gunther says simply.

"What, I've 'proven my worth' to you, and so now you're going to have mercy and spare me from your judgment?" My tone is hydrochloric acid in verbal form.

"Yes," he replies with tact so masterful that I can't feel it at all.

"Fuck you."

"Why, James, thanks for telling me of your bisexuality," Gunther says without a beat. "But if you want personal gratification, shouldn't you ask your girlfriend for that instead of me?"

Easy, James… No punching…

"Enough of that!" Rina snaps, which makes me wince; it's not often that I see her lashing out like that. She looks like she's about to punch Gunther herself, though in genuine anger, as opposed to simply annoyance and butthurt. "Who gave you the right to 'judge', Quincy? Who gave you the right to decide whether James deserves his powers?!"

"Who gave _you_ the right to decide, Soul Reaper?" Gunther's tone is hard and completely unyielding.

"Huh…?" Rina blinks, not quite understanding. "What are you-"

"There is a _reason_ why power transferral to humans is illegal," Gunther says, his gaze so sharp that it's practically drilling into Rina. "Had James received proper Soul Reaper training? Is he aware of the responsibilities and consequences of possessing spiritual powers?"

"No, but-"

"Are you a certified Soul Reaper Academy instructor? What made you think _you_ are authorized to deem someone fit to receive spiritual power? A _bystander_, no less?"

"Our lives were in danger!" Rina shouts, her face flushed with anger now. "We were attacked by an Adjuchas! I had no choice but to-"

"Shouldn't you have asked Soul Society for assistance instead?"

Rina freezes, her eyes wide.

"Oh, but of course, had you contacted Soul Society, they'd have found out your little affair with James, wouldn't they? Your affair with an _uninvolved human_?"

"No, I…"

"Why did you think associating with humans was also illegal, Soul Reaper?" Gunther is now almost shouting too, his eyes burning with cold anger. "Surely it can't be because of, you know, the inherent danger in a lifestyle of hunting Hollows?"

"But I can protect James!" Rina cries out. "He won't be-"

"Isn't it your job to protect _everyone_?!" Gunther snarls. "You have no right to value one person over the many! Why did you even _become_ a Soul Reaper if you didn't know what your duties are?!"

"_Because it's the only way I could leave Soul Society and see James again!_"

"So you joined the Soulguard for entirely selfish reasons, and someone more responsible could have been chosen instead of you to watch over the city of Vancouver and protect its inhabitants," Gunther says, his voice so quiet that it's almost a whisper. "You're the biggest disgrace to Soul Reapers I've ever seen. Someone like _you_ doesn't get to lecture me on rights and responsibilities."

For a second, we just stare at him. Rina looks like she's about to cry.

Shit. Gunther is being harsh as all fuck, but I can't disagree with him. Rina is the sweetest and most passionate person I've ever met, but she's always followed her heart, not her sense of duty.

…but hell if I'm going to just let Gunther insult her like that. "Okay, fine, she's an irresponsible person. So that clearly means she can't talk to you about rights and responsibilities? Good job being impartial and avoiding ad hominem there, man!"

"This isn't a formal debate, James Hawking."

"Doesn't mean I can't call you out on your bullshit," I growl. "So Rina isn't as attentive of her duties as she could've been. But did she abuse her power? Did _I_ abuse my power? Nobody got seriously hurt, so what makes you think you can just stick your nose in our business like that?"

"Without formal training or the correct mindset, you'd lose sight of yourself sooner or later."

"Oh yeah? How can you be so sure?"

"What if you're forced to save one person only to forever condemn another, James? Or kill a hundred to save a million? How long will it be until you conclude that there is no real right thing to do, and you're ultimately just doing as you pleased? After all, those with power had always dominated those without, hadn't they?"

I just gape at him for a moment, speechless.

Then I slug him with all my strength.

…and of course, it feels like I'm punching a brick wall, as my fist gets blocked by his glowing blue vein thing. Whatever. "You think I'm gonna turn into some goddamned _supervillain_, Gunther?!" I snarl.

"I'm here to make sure you don't, one way or another."

"It's an awfully slippery slope you're describing there," I hiss, still can't quite believe what I've just heard. "You sure you're not just projecting?"

For a moment, the corner of his eye twitches.

Then with no warning, he slugs me too.

But my Aegis activates automatically too, and makes it feel no worse than being hit by a pillow. Ha, eat that, asshole! You block my punch, I block yours.

"You Soul Reapers have it so easy," Gunther says through clenched teeth, his voice seething with venom. "Any Hollow you kill is automatically purified and sent to Soul Society, as though nothing bad ever happened! But we Quincies? _We_ have to choose who lives and who dies! Do you know how it feels, to always have to be the judge, jury, and executioner? To decide which soul must cease existing so other souls may continue to exist?! Is this not a world where the strong decides all of that?!"

Welp. So I did hit a nerve with that.

"You… You have a point," Rina says, her voice shaking a little, clearly having not recovered completely from the emotional sucker punch earlier. "You have my s-sympathy, however much it means to you, but… Aren't you here to negotiate? If you think what we d-do is morally wrong, fine… But we haven't hurt anyone else, have we…?"

"What she said." I sigh, suddenly feeling a little tired. "Look, Gunther. If you worry that I'll turn evil or whatever, kill me _after_ that happens, okay? Or do Quincies say guilty until proven innocent?"

Gunther turns away, and takes a long, deep breath. Then another. And another. A faint blue glow surrounds him, and I think I can see spiritons flowing in and out of his body. After about ten seconds of that, he turns back toward us, looking thankfully calmer than before.

"I allowed past experiences to cloud my thinking and judgment," Gunther says. He looks… displeased with himself? "As a rationalist, the failure was mine. I apologize."

"Wait. You're… sorry?" I blink, wondering if I'm mishearing things. "Did I, uh… punch you too hard that you got a concussion, or…?"

"I'm giving you a chance, James Hawking," he growls. "Don't squander it."

"Uh, okay? Thanks…?" I mutter, not sure what to say.

"Thank you," Rina says, and lets out a huge breath of relief. "If you're willing to give us a chance, then we'll give you a chance too."

"Yeah, what she said." I nod; it'd make me even more of an asshole than Gunther if he offers a truce but I don't take it. Though there's still a thing that feels kind of screwy. "But, uh… Why did you even challenge me to a fight anyways, if you're just going to end up having a truce?"

"For an amateur like you, you handled your powers very intelligently and efficiently," says Gunther. His gaze is cold and analytical, but approving, at least for now. "You were neither drunk on that power, or feeling overwhelmed by its existence. That is a good indicator that you haven't lost sight of yourself, in the face of something previously beyond your knowledge and comprehension. And so your chances of going astray is much lower." _Compared to someone like me_, he almost seems to say, as he looks away and clenches his fists.

"I… guess that makes sense?" I mean, I'd rather see some empirical evidence and statistics, but… "So I passed your test, and you're not going to harass me again. Am I right on that?"

"Yes." Then his eyes narrow. "But if you abuse your power in any way…" And he turns to Rina. "Or if _you_ neglect your duties severely enough to put mortal bystanders in harm's way… I will do what is necessary."

"I'm sure we won't let that happen," I say. We won't let that happen, one way or another.

Gunther stares at me for a bit, but says nothing more.

"So what are you going to do now?" Rina asks, still sounding a bit uneasy, but considerably less so than before. "Are we going back to pretending that we don't know each other, and stay out of each other's way, or…?"

"Our goals are the same, protecting humans from Hollows," says Gunther. He closes his eyes for a moment, and shakes his head. "So there is no logical reason why we shouldn't cooperate when possible. Provided that I still deem you deserving of my assistance."

"What, are we best buddies now all of a sudden?" I ask, with no small amount of skepticism.

"Don't flatter yourself," he scoffs. "At least I know to keep business and pleasure separate. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going now."

…and without another word, he sinks into a pool of shadows that has formed underneath him, which then vanishes without a trace.

"…see you next Monday," I mutter, after staring at the spot for a few seconds. "Nope, that totally wasn't creepy or anything."

"Pheeeew…" After Gunther's gone, Rina just deflates, lying down haphazardly across the sofa. "That was _waaaay_ more stressful than it needed to be."

"Ugh, no kidding."

"~Uguu…" Rina stretches lazily; I try not to stare at her curves and the no small amount of skin her casual indoor outfit is showing. "I wanna do something more pleasant now." She drapes herself over me. "Heeey… Entertain me."

I gulp and try not to think of too many, uh, impure thoughts. Now is _really_ not the appropriate time for that, not after having just put up with so much of Gunther's bullshit. "W-What, you wanna play some video games?"

"Nah… I kinda feel like going outside."

"O-Outside?! Never!" I gasp with mock terror. "You can't make me!"

"Hehe… You'd totally be a hikikomori without me, wouldn't you?" She giggles. "We'd normally be hanging out with Julia and Gabe at this time, and-"

…crap. Another landmine.

"…sorry," Rina says, looking uncertain again. "I shouldn't have said…"

"No, no, it's okay." I shake my head. "It's my fault that I was too depressed to keep in touch with friends, when you were… gone. But…" I lower my gaze, ashamed of my weakness. "I have no idea where Gabe and Julia are now…"

"It's not your fault…" She whispers, and gently gazes into my eyes. "And… We can always get back in touch with them, right? Like… Right now?"

"B-But…" Fuck. I'm starting to hate myself again, for being unable to control these irrational fears even though I'm aware that they're irrational. "What if they hate me now? What if they hate me for cutting contact with them, and want nothing to do with me anymore? What if…"

"James." Rina takes hold of my hands, and squeezes firmly. "If our friendship means anything to them, I'm sure they'll be happy to hear from you again."

"Are you… sure…?" God, I wish I can at least sound less pathetic right now.

"Who was it that underwent five years of training just to see you again, even though you thought she was dead?" Rina's smile becomes a little fierce. "I'm absolutely sure, James. Gabe and Julia will be overjoyed to hear from you again."

"If you say so…" I grab my phone and glance at the contacts list. Hmm, I still have their numbers, even though I haven't called either of them since 2010… "So, like… Do you want me to call them right now, or…?"

"Mhm." She gives me a warm and encouraging smile.

"Okay, here goes…" I take a deep breath, and tap on Gabe's number.

…aaaand it says something about the number not currently being in use. Welp, so much for that?

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Rina asks, after seeing my expression.

"Gabe's number apparently isn't in use," I say. "Maybe he changed numbers or something?"

"Check his Facebook?" Rina suggests.

"Okay." I open Facebook on my phone and type in "Gabriel Dalton", and Rina leans in closer to see. "Uhhhh… The last update was four years ago, and…"

"He said he's moving to Toronto because of his dad changing jobs…?" Rina murmurs, frowning. "And… The profile no longer says he's in a relationship with Julia."

"…well, this is awkward."

"Try Julia?" Rina says, now sounding a little uncertain herself.

"Sure…" I type in "Julia Huang". Her profile picture is new, which is a good sign. But… It looks like her updates have become more and more sporadic too over the past few years, even though she used to be _very_ active before that. And there are hardly any new group photos in her album before. Damn, did _all_ our lives happen to go downhill once Rina was gone?

"Hey, it says she's going to UBC too," Rina points out. "Chinese heritage club, literature club, tennis club…" She glances at me. "You haven't seen her on campus before?"

"Nope." I shake my head. "Lemme try her number."

It takes quite a few rings, but someone actually picks up on the other end. "Hello? J-James?" Julia's voice says on the other end.

Well, too late to back down now. "Julia? Hey, uh… I know I haven't called in a _really_ long while, but-"

But she cuts me off. "Oh my God, James…" She sounds breathy, tense, _stressed_. I've never heard her like this before. "You… Can you… still see g-ghosts, James?"

Huh? Why's she suddenly bringing that up? "Uh, y-yeah, I can," I stammer a bit. "But what does that-"

"Oh, thank God…" She lets out a shuddering breath. "S-Sorry that this is so sudden, but you're the only one who might be able to help me!"

Okay, now I'm just completely lost. "Slow down, Julia! What do you need help with? What's this all about?"

"No, we shouldn't talk about this on the phone…" She mutters. "Can you m-meet me at 2 PM today?" She sounds _desperate_, i.e. not like herself at all. "Please, I really need some help…"

"I… I guess I could? But seriously, what-"

"Thank you!" Julia practically shouts. "I'll text you the address. S-See you in three hours!"

And then she hangs up.

"…well. So that happened." I look at Rina, not sure what else to say.

"She sounded upset," Rina says, clearly looking concerned.

"And she asked me if I can still see ghosts…" A chill goes down my spine. "Whatever Julia's problem is… You don't think it'd be related to Hollows, do you?"

"If it was, and Julia still lives in Vancouver, then I would've known about it…" Rina frowns, and takes out her weird spiritual phone thing. "There should've been an alarm for every Hollow attack in this general area, and I haven't had any related to Julia."

"Huh… Guess we'll just have to meet her and ask?" Gee, I totally wanted this to be even more difficult than it already was. "You're coming too, right?"

"Of course." Rina looks determined. "If Julia's in trouble, I'll do anything I can to help."

"But how are we going to explain to her about you coming back from the dead?"

"I dunno, just like how we explained it to Mom and Dad?" She shrugs. "I mean, Julia and Gabe did stop doubting us about seeing ghosts after the first year or so…"

"I… guess?" Ugh. Even though I'd like to reconnect with an old friend, I'm not looking forward to the part where we have to explain all the supernatural shenanigans. "You do the explaining, please."

"Yeah, I will."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

I can't help but to feel jittery as I press the doorbell of Julia's apartment. Then I hear hurried footsteps, and the door opens.

Julia's definitely taller than when I last saw her, almost as tall as me now. Her blond hair is a bit longer than before, but still tied in a ponytail. Her skin is tanned as usual, and her lean, athletic figure still shows through the simple green T-shirt and black workout pants she's wearing. I'd be lying if I said she wasn't attractive… but I'm not really into the sporty type of girl like Julia, and Rina is almost everything I'd want in a girlfriend anyways. And blegh, that's beside the point. When I was friends with her before, I could always see impressive strength and determination in Julia's dark eyes. But now I can only see fear, trepidation, worry, and… relief.

"James!" Julia cries out as she sees me. "Oh, thanks _so much_ for coming! I really didn't know who else to ask, and-"

Her eyes understandably go wide when she sees Rina behind me. Here we go…

"R-Rina?!" Julia blinks, and rubs her eyes, then looks at me. "That's Rina behind you, right? I'm not seeing things?"

"N-No," I say, wondering how best to phrase this. "She, uh, came back from the dead."

"But I'm most definitely not a zombie!" Rina adds, with a serious expression on her face. "And I'm most definitely not here to eat your delicious braaaaains!"

"W-When…"

"Less than two weeks ago. See, I was going to tell you over the phone, but you didn't let me finish."

"I… I guess if things like ghosts and Fullbrings are real, people coming back from the dead shouldn't be that far-fetched…?" Julia murmurs to herself. I have no idea what this "Fullbring" thing she just mentioned is, but Rina's eyes widen a little upon hearing the word. "Anyways, please c-come in…"

"You okay, Julie?" Rina asks as we step through the doorway and close the door behind us. "I mean, I know I haven't seen you in forever, but… I can still see that you really don't look well."

"No, I'm not okay…" Well, Julia had never been one to beat around the bush. She looks at me, then at Rina, and back at me again. "You two can both still see ghosts, right…?"

"Uh, yeah." I nod. "What, is your problem related to-"

"I need to show you something." Her tone sounds urgent, but I can see the uncertainty in her eyes. "Listen, guys… I know it'll probably be shocking, but can you promise me not to panic? I swear, what I'm about to show you isn't going to h-hurt you…"

"We promise," says Rina gently, as she takes hold of Julia's hands. "We're still friends, right? So we'll be there for you, no matter what happens…"

"T-Thanks…" Julia manages a weak smile. "Now, can you two stand back a bit?"

Rina obliges, and I quickly follow suit, despite having no clue what's going on.

"All right…" Julia takes a deep breath. Then she takes hold of the golden pendant that she's always worn for as long as I can remember. It depicts two birds, a western phoenix and a Chinese fenghuang, twined around each other. Between the two birds is a sun-shaped spherical compartment that, according to Julia, contains the cremated ashes of her father, who passed away when she was young.

And… The pendant begins glowing.

"Huh…?" It's now my time to blink and rub my eyes. But no, I'm not seeing things either. The pendant really is glowing a fiery, reddish orange, mixed with traces of the other colors of the rainbow. For a second, the gold making up the pendant almost seems to become molten. Then…

The pendant _transforms_.

Well, it looks like the gold is _actually_ molten during the second or so that it liquefies and changes shape. When the second is over, Julia is now holding a peculiar sword that looks like a hybrid between a European rapier and Chinese jian. The hilt and hilt guard of the sword look like those of a rapier, the guard made of reddish gold metal in the shape of a curled phoenix wing. But the golden blade is that of a jian, as is the pommel. The pendant's necklace has now snapped in two, the two ends morphed into a pair of peacock-like fenghuang tail feathers, made of what looks like orange fire with hints of other colors, attached to the pommel as the tassel of a jian. The whole sword is surrounded by iridescent flames of similar colors, which somehow isn't burning Julia or her clothes, even though I can feel the warmth from here. Overall, the thing looks pretty damn awesome.

"Uh, Rina?" I ask, after I'm done staring and gaping. "How come Julia has a Soulslayer? Is she secretly a Soul Reaper too?"

"'Soulslayer'? 'Soul Reaper'? What's that?" Julia frowns in confusion. "This is called a Fullbring."

"Wait, wait, slow down," I say, holding up my hands. "Let's make sure we're all on the same page, okay?"

"Okay." Julia nods, looking relieved that Rina and I haven't gone apeshit on her for pulling a flaming sword out of nowhere. "You know how I used to doubt you guys for seeing ghosts? Well, not anymore, since I can see them now too, and-"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, my senses are overwhelmed by the stench of Hollow spirit pressure. From the corner of my eye, I barely manage to see space apparently being sliced open behind Julia like a veil, and my own reflexes are far too slow to do anything. "No-" I begin to shout.

_Clang!_

An instant later, Rina has already flash-stepped behind Julia, katana in hand. The steely gray blade is held against something that looks like an oversized switchblade, coated in something translucent green and faintly glowing. The weapon is held by what may be the most bizarre-looking Hollow I've seen yet, a tall, gaunt, hairless white humanoid with various animal-shaped tattoos of deep, dark colors all over its body. Its right arm holds the giant switchblade, while its left arm is wrapped in chains that crackle with blue electricity. What appears to be a dark shadowy cloak trails behind its back; a pair of small wings extrude from the sole of each of its feet; and there's an honest-to-God monocle attached to the right eye hole of its creepily expressionless mask. The Hollow struggles against Rina for a moment, then jumps back.

"You! How did you get here without triggering a Hollow alarm?!" Rina shouts, clearly just as shocked as I am.

The Hollow stares at Rina for a second, but says nothing to her, then looks at Julia. "So… You've made friends with a Soul Reaper, haven't you, little Fullbringer?" The Hollow's voice is little more than a hoarse whisper, but somehow it's more disturbing than a monstrous roar of any volume. "A shame, because I thought our little game was for the two of us alone…"

Well. I guess that answers the question of whether Julia's problems are Hollow-related. I can already tell, this is going to be just _great_.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note:**

Sorry for not updating for so long. As I said, my motivation tends to come and go, and sometimes I just don't feel like writing. Unfortunately, I can't promise to update more frequently, so I apologize for any disappointments that this may cause.

As for the other unexplained things in this chapter, well… Let's just say I'll try not to leave any plot holes lying around anywhere. Stick around to find out, if you're interested.

Lastly, I neglected to include anything like this in my previous chapters, but I would like to thank my friends **BCTheEntity** and **Hierophant** for pre-reading this chapter for me.


End file.
